The Broken Yamanaka
by RogueTempest
Summary: Kasumi Yamanaka loved her family, especially her twin Ino, but that was before they rejected her. Kasumi now has to face the hardships of being a ninja without the support of her family. But what about the new family she finds along the way? And will she ever forgive the Yamanakas? Disclaimer: This goes for the whole story. I don't own Naruto. Only my OCs and non-canon events.
1. Prologue

The Yamanaka clan didn't know for certain whether today was a day of celebration or hesitance. The wife of their clan leader had just given birth to twins. They both looked the same, from the curve of their nose to their blue, pupil less eyes but one of the newborns had light brown hair instead of the trademark Yamanaka light blonde hair.

The instant this was discovered there was frantic talk about how the child could possibly not be their clan heads offspring and discussion everywhere about how the wife of the respected Inoichi Yamanaka was nothing but a whore. Inoichi quickly put a stop to all of this discussion and most of it would be forgotten as long as the brown haired abnormality brought honour and respect to her clan, but it is amazing how fast people can remember things or change their opinion if it benefits them.

Anyone who saw the family of four would not question what they saw with one child with the hair from the father and the other from the mother. You had to be a Yamanaka to know the gravity of the situation. No matter how many Yamanakas didn't have blonde hair the heir and their offspring must. In all the records of the Yamanaka clan from their earliest ancestors this had always been the case, the one exception caused chaos and mayhem within the clan. This brown haired child of the head of the Yamanaka clan would be considered something of a curse, while the blonde child was readily accepted as the future potential heir the brown haired child would be considered the offspring of a devil therefore having no connection to her sister, father or clan. This would always be in the background of the Yamanakas' minds, even with the reassurance from their clan head that this child was a gift.

The two girls were named Ino and Kasumi. Ino was the baby with the blonde hair and would carry the tradition of having 'Ino' in the first name. Kasumi was the brown haired disgrace who would have to work for a place in the clan because even from birth and having done nothing in this world but exist, this child was an outcast simply by her hair and name.


	2. 1 - I Love My Sister

The couple of years after the initial outburst had been quiet in respect to the brown haired twin. She wasn't treated very differently from Ino but the reason for this varied from genuine acceptance to fear of the Yamanaka clan head. The twin girls were inseparable and complimented each other well in terms of personality and habits. Ino and Kasumi would often play with the other young children of the Yamanaka clan but at the end of the day they would always end up sticking together.

* * *

One late afternoon a few years after the controversial birth of the Yamanaka twins all four members of the family were in the backyard, the parents sitting on the porch and the children playing a few feet away.

"Sumi!Sumi!"

"Ino!Ino!"

Two identical girls sat in a patch of flowers in the garden of the Yamanaka compound, making flower crowns for each other, while their parents couldn't contain their soft laughter at the sight of their two baby girls playing.

"I made you a present!"

"Me too!"

"Girls,"

Two sets of blue, laughing eyes turned to see their father stand up. Soon both Ino and Kasumi were laughing hysterically out loud as Inoichi scooped both of them up into his arms and started kissing the top of their heads in between the flower crowns they had made and gifted each other only moments before.

"You two have to behave while I go away for a little bit,"

"Daddy!"

One whine chorused by the two young Yamanakas was enough to bring a genuine smile to the experienced shinobi's face. Inoichi knew why his daughters were upset. It wasn't because he had implied that they never behaved, his reminder was just and everyone in the Yamanaka compound knew that, but it was because he was going to have to go on another mission after only getting back from his last one earlier that week. After a sigh and an idea the clan head put his two daughters down and knelt in front of the duo.

"I was going to leave this as a surprise bu-"

"SURPRISE!"

He had them hook, line and sinker.

"Yeah, a little surprise I have planned for when I get back . . . but if I can't go . . ."

"No!" "Dad!"

"So can the two of you wait and behave for your mum,"

Two vigorous nods and two parental, loving smiles.

Satisfied with his work and confident that his bribe will have the desired effect easing the hassle of looking after the girls for his wife, Inoichi stood back up after planting two more quick kisses on his children's foreheads then vanished to go meet up with his team.

"Mum," Airi turned to her youngest daughter.

"When will dad be back?" inquired Kasumi. Instead of replying directly to the quiet and calm personality of the pair Airi turned to the loud and impulsive counterpart before relaying the devastating information.

"Three weeks," Airi smiled.

"WHAT! But that is forever!" Ino as always brought a smile to her mother's face from the typical child answer. Kasumi waited for her twin to stop shouting before asking yet another question. "What is the surprise?"

Their mother could do nothing more than shake her head and laugh softly at the situation unfolding, the same series of events that unravelled every time her husband went on a mission. Inoichi would always try and make things easier for her by giving the girls an incentive to be well behaved but it would always end in more questions but Airi would never tell the head Yamanaka that because these reactions from her daughters would fill her with joy.

"Mmm…Mmm…Ummm…"

"Mum!" "Ino," "What?!" "Do you want to make more flower chains?" "…"

' _Always so diplomatic'_ thought Airi as Kasumi diffused an annoyed Ino. However, with two young children silence does not last as long as what would be desired.

"We just did that!" countered Ino after a second of hesitation. Kasumi gave a suspiciously sweet smile before going over to her beloved twin and looked directly at her mother before whispering into Ino's ear.

"Not in the big flower patch in the middle of the compound forest," whispered Kasumi. It only took another minute of silence before a bright smile and sparkling eyes adorned the young blonde's face before her loud voice once again reverberated the courtyard in which the small flower garden they were next to was located.

"Can we mum?!"

Two sets of bright blue eyes looked pleadingly into the brown eyes of the older Yamanaka, both already knowing that their mother had heard. Kasumi could be very selective about the volume she gave to her 'whispers'. All three of the female Yamanakas knew that these stares would get the wanted outcome but a mother needs to have her own tricks and bribes to keep her children in line.

"Tomorrow,"

It earnt upset expressions from both Ino and Kasumi but as Ino opened her mouth to reply Airi used her secret weapon, a dangerously sweet smile that was accompanied by a stare from sudden cold, pupil less brown eyes that discouraged any argument.

"What's for dinner?"

This changed the temperature of the stare and made the smile nothing but sweet. The little brown haired Yamanaka would never cease to amaze.

* * *

The very next day Airi kept her promise and her two daughters got to go to the flower field in the clearing that they talked about the day before. Airi had invited some of the other Yamanaka families along as well. It was good that the children all got to interact with one another, especially since one of her daughters would be the next clan head.

You could easily tell why the children loved the clearing so much. It wasn't too big but large enough to be home to enough flowers to keep the dozen or so children happy and sheltered by a few trees to keep the majority of the wind from ruining the flower crowns being made with great care and concentration. The forest in the Yamanaka compound was a bit of pride for the clan because it contained so many different types of flora species and was a great way for the children to learn but at the moment these children were not going to be put through a lesson on naming flowers but instead would be allowed to enjoy a precious day of their childhood by simply playing in the brightly coloured field.

"KASUMI!"

Said brown haired Yamanaka had balled fists by her side which had little trickles of blood going down them and making little bright red drops on the contrasting lush green grass. Tear filled eyes looked up at Airi but there was no apology written in Kasumi's eyes as a slightly older Yamanaka child ran to her mother across the clearing. Besides these sobs from the injured relative there was not a single sound across the whole clearing. Small hesitant steps. Eyes not leaving her mother's.

…

…

"I'm not sorry,"

"Kasumi"

Airi tried to reason with her usually passive daughter but all of the other mothers in the clearing started making their own objections to this behaviour and Airi knew she needed to stop all of this before the superstitions of the clan started up again and affected her daughter, possibly both.

"Kas-"

"No one can be mean to Ino,"

With that came sudden silence and bewilderment as Kasumi wiped her hands on her light blue dress, walked over to Ino, grabbed a hold of her hand and walked out of the clearing without any hesitation or a glance back. All the Yamanakas did was stare in stunned surprise as a girl with brown hair and a blue dress walked away with a blonde girl in a yellow dress while mumbling inaudible words of comfort. It was only after this that everyone recalled how there were silent tears in the eyes of both of the twins.

What had been a pleasant day with the other clan children in the large flower field at the back of the Yamanaka compound had turned into something that was full of tears and recollections of a clan superstition. No one would deny that standing up for her sister was something admirable and sweet but the violence at which it was committed had a lot of the clan on edge.

Airi would have to have a serious talk with her young daughter.

Just as Airi went to leave the clearing in pursuit of her children she was stopped. The mother of the injured child had called out to her, but there was no trace of anger in the soft voice.

"Yes. Oh, yes. I forgot to apologies for the behave-" Airi turned to the other Yamanaka and started apologising on behalf of her clearly unapologetic daughter and was midway into a bow when she was cut off by the mother.

"No, no. Please. Sayuri has something to say," The older Yamanaka gently pushed her young daughter towards the wife of their clan head. The young, blonde haired, blue eyed Yamanaka girl would have only been a year older then the twins and at the moment she had a small patch of blood on the left side of her forehead from where the brown haired twin had defended her sister.

"I'm sorry,"

Once again there was silence in the clearing but this time the tension decreased.

"I shouldn't have pulled Ino's hair or call Kasumi names,"

…

The silence appeared to unnerve the young girl and more tears emerged from her eyes as she tried to discretely shuffle backwards towards her mother.

No one had known that Kasumi was a victim of the teasing as well. When she had defended her actions she had only mentioned that Ino had been hurt.

Airi smiled gently at the actions of her youngest daughter, hoping that this attitude would stay with her forever.

"Everything is fine," The young girl, Sayuri, stopped her slow trek backwards and stared in bewilderment at the older brown haired female Yamanaka.

"I don't think you are going to do anything like that again. Are you?" Sayuri stood as still as a statue. A statue with its mouth wide open, which earnt a couple of soft chuckles from around the clearing.

"How about you come with me? You three girls need to forgive each other yourselves. Okay?" This time Sayuri's mother stepped forward to answer on behalf of her still stunned daughter.

"That sounds excellent," And with that simple response the three Yamanaka left the clearing and followed the same path that the twins had taken only a few moments beforehand.

Even though the tension had been mostly dispersed and it seemed that Sayuri's mother had forgiven the brown haired abnormality for being surprisingly protective of her sister a few of the remaining Yamanaka in the clearing were starting to grow their suspicions and would now be keeping a closer eye on the potential threat.

* * *

Sayuri was shocked and nervous to say the least. Even if you were a Yamanaka you didn't often get invited to the house of the clan head. It didn't matter if the clan head himself wasn't home she was going to get to go there and even after she had been mean to the twins! She hoped that she didn't make a fool of herself.

Airi and Sayuri's mother, Mayumi, were talking away happily. Airi was grateful that Mayumi had an open mind to her daughter's situation and that she didn't blame her same daughter for her unexpectedly violent behaviour. Mayumi was grateful that Airi had an understanding that children will be children and didn't hold anything against Sayuri for her behaviour. It is surprising what circumstances can lead to a strong and lasting friendship.

"Sayuri,"

At hearing her name from an unfamiliar voice, said child knew instantly that it must be the wife of the clan head that was addressing her and lifted her head up from staring at the ground to stare at the respected Yamanaka lady but before she could start to bow there came a soft, regal laugh from the same unfamiliar voice.

"Don't worry about any of those formalities Sayuri. You are going to be our guest for the rest of the day. I hope you get along well with the girls, even after the … bad start you three had. How is your head going?"

Sayuri was never going to get used to being talked to from someone so high up in society, it was intimidating to say the least and it took her a long second to find her words for a proper reply.

"Ah… …"

After another second it turned out that a nod of the head would have to suffice. This action earnt yet more delicate laughter from the two Yamanaka mothers. Sayuri continued to stay silent as she followed Airi and Mayumi to their destination, feeling both scared and excited.

* * *

"Are you okay Ino?"

A hesitant nod from one twin and an exasperated sigh from the other was all that occurred before they settled back into a both familiar and unusual silence as they continued to make their way back home. Ino still wouldn't let go of Kasumi's hand but every now and then Kasumi would gently squeeze her twin's hand just to let Ino know that everything was okay, even if they both knew that Kasumi would be getting into a lot of trouble when their mum got home.

The breeze was gentle but it was enough to make their longish hair fly around their faces and get in the way.

"Why don't we cut our hair?"

"What!"

At least it got a verbal response this time.

"Yeah,"

Ino went to argue some more but Kasumi had always been more convincing.

"Wait! I know long hair is a tradition and all but we aren't ninja yet,"

Ino had gone back to her unusually silent ways but this time it was for contemplation.

"We can have short hair for now and then grow it out once we get to the academy,"

By now both girls had stopped in the middle of their journey back home.

"… Yeah … if mum and dad say it is okay, then … it would be good,"

Ino still seemed unsure but slowly warming to the idea, especially after the incident in the clearing they just had. With that confirmed they squeezed each other's hand and continued walking the remaining short distance back home but this time there was faint laughter drifting on the breeze.

* * *

When the trio of Yamanakas met up with the duo of Yamanakas in the clan head's home it was an extended awkward silence until Airi took mercy on her daughters and explained the current circumstances.

"Ino, Kasumi this is Mayumi and her daughter Sayuri. I invited them here after the _incident_ ,"

All three Yamanaka children looked at the ground at the reminder of what had transpired only a few moments earlier.

"Girls,"

Three sets of blue eyes, instead of the usual two, looked up at Airi.

"Go play and this time no fighting,"

The reactions from the young Yamanakas appeared to be in slow motion but after the demand had set in three pairs of legs slowly made their way down the hall to the twins' bedroom. Once the door closed the mothers laughed before sitting at the table to enjoy tea and share stories, while the children stood unsurely in the room they had been ordered to.

The room was what would be expected of a room containing twins, two sets of everything but in slightly different colours so they could be distinguished to some degree. The beds stood next to each other under the window and there were chests full of toys at the foot of each bed. Two bookshelves shared the far wall while two dressing tables occupied the space next to the door and most of the other remaining area was filled with toys of some description or another.

For once Ino was silent and unsociable while the new girl, Sayuri, wanted to cry and run back to her mum.

"How is your head?"

Just like the last time this question was asked Sayuri did nothing more than nod her head which got a non approving grunt form the brown haired Yamanaka. This frightened both blonde haired Yamanakas in the room, one feared being hit again and the other was scared of the unusual behaviour of her other self.

Without an explanation or reassurance to the identical looks on the other children's faces, Kasumi walked out of the room. Ino and Sayuri had no idea what to do with the mysterious absence of Kasumi and without saying a word between them they both moved in sync out of the bedroom and back to their respective mothers in the dining room.

"What happened this time?" "Where is Kasumi?"

Both mothers started to interrogate the children that seemed to be hiding behind their chairs. The two blonde girls stared at each other uncertainly before slowly and very lightly starting to giggle.

"Ino!"

The missing child suddenly reappeared from the hallway carrying a small box. This earnt smiles from the parents present and confusion from Ino and Sayuri. Ino had apparently overcome her recent onset of nervousness to go back to her bright and energetic self in the brief time that Kasumi had been out of the room as she left Airi's side and bounded over to Kasumi once she reappeared to stare curiously at the box Kasumi must have left the bedroom to fetch.

"What are you doing with that?"

"Sayuri's head is still bleeding,"

With that explanation, Kasumi took the medic kit over to her mother before heading back out of the room, down the hallway and to the bedroom she shared with Ino. Nobody was more shocked than Sayuri.

* * *

By the end of the day the three girls had become friends. Mayumi used the kit to fix Sayuri's head before both Ino and Sayuri went back to the bedroom where Kasumi had gone. Neither Airi nor Mayumi saw or heard from the three girls for a couple of hours after that.

Kasumi's gesture to break the ice and the return of Ino's confidence did a lot to help the rest of their interaction with Sayuri. The girls played a few hand games that Inoichi had taught them, to help with their coordination and reflexes, and some of the toys lying around the room. After a bit more familiarity was gained from Sayuri, Kasumi decided to ask a crucial question concerning their future friendship.

"Why did you pull Ino's hair?"

This caused both Ino and Sayuri to stop what they were going, which at the moment was playing with Kasumi's brown hair as Ino was still a bit cautious and they had already done Sayuri's hair. Kasumi couldn't see either of the other girls but when Ino started laughing her curiosity meant that she had to turn around and see the great bright red blush on Sayuri's face.

"I wmn mmdnmn-"

"Speak up Sayuri!" Even Ino was helping out with the interrogation as this outburst along with two unflinching stares from the twins earnt a more clear response from the poor girl.

"I was jealous,"

The hard stares form the two identical faces suddenly turned soft and slightly confused.

"I know I am amazing but what were you jealous about?"

Sayuri was by now an extremely nervous wreck with her eyes staring intensely at the floor and her hands preoccupied with playing with each other.

"Your flowers were pretty,"

Sayuri was forced to continue after the confused expressions on Ino and Kasumi's faces intensified.

"You always know what flowers look pretty together,"

With this confession and a quick group hug the three girls became friends and made a promise to help each other, especially with flowers.


	3. 2 - The Surprise

The new friendship between the twins and Sayuri had distracted Ino and Kasumi and allowed them to mostly forget about the surprise their father had promised before his mission. The surprise wasn't even the first thing they mentioned to him when he walked through the door of their home after the few weeks wait he previously informed them of.

"Daddy!"

After the first couple of missions Inoichi had learnt to go to the hospital before he returned home because his two baby girls were a lot stronger than they looked. No matter how quiet this experienced ninja was, he could never evade the tackle he got from his daughters as he entered the house. Inoichi had learnt that all he could do was laugh and enjoy their affection.

"How are my little girls?"

This brightened the identical smiles the twins shared as they seemed to think of something, possibly important, simultaneously and before he could question them any further he had already been dragged into the lounge room to see his wife sitting next to an unfamiliar, but obviously Yamanaka, woman and what appeared to be her astonished child sitting on the floor. Airi left her seat and made her way over to her husband, with gracefulness that Inoichi could never understand how a civilian could have, before getting three choruses of 'Ewww' as she kissed and welcomed the clan head home from his mission. The third voice was what made Inoichi turn around to the new child who his own girls had now moved over to and stood on each side, seemingly trapping the poor blonde girl. The girl took on an unhealthy shade of red and sweated more than most ninja did on a mission within the space of a second. Inoichi decided to approach the young Yamanaka but in the two steps it took him to reach the three girls the one in the middle was only being kept upright by the twins at her sides. This surprised all three adults and eventually brought forth laughter from the two women while the one, lone ninja could do nothing more than start to freak out.

So much for Sayuri not embarrassing herself.

The twins could be extremely evil when they worked together.

* * *

After the incident with Sayuri and an explanation from the infamous Yamanaka twins about Sayuri's nerves and awe of the clan head, Inoichi's family was able to spend a relatively peaceful dinner together.

"Have you two been practising those games?"

"We taught Sayuri!"

"So you haven't improved then?"

Ino started freaking out at the implications behind his question, which was asked with slyness and a lean across the table toward the oldest twin. When Inoichi told his daughters to behave when he went on missions there was an underlying rule that they were not allowed to slack off from their ninja practise, even if it was only a few hand games at this stage. Inoichi knew that he could torment the blonde for a little bit until she realised that she would get the surprise either way because it had already been organised, organised before he had even gone on the mission. As usual, Kasumi was able to both save her sister and astound her parents.

"Teaching is the best way to learn,"

… … …

"So you two think you deserve your surprise?"

Inoichi could play the question game all day, especially if it meant subtly teaching his girls similar techniques as well through common behaviour and circumstances. Either way, this last question was just the trigger to overexcite his already boisterous blonde daughter and make his brown haired daughter extremely energetic, and motivated unfortunately.

"WHAT IS IT!"

There was a reason that it wasn't a good idea to have both girls excited at the same time, it could hurt the ears of anyone, especially the heightened senses of ninjas.

"You have to wait until tomorrow, AND-" After quickly silencing his precious girls Inoichi then had the opportunity to safely continue uninterrupted. "-promise to behave," this only served to earn incredulous looks from the eager girls as they looked at each other and seemed to simultaneously question their father's sanity.

"I'm being serious,"

Same shared look. Less enthusiasm.

"Look, how about you two go to bed early tonight so you are refreshed in the morning,"

"We don't want the surprise anymore,"

Kasumi nodded her head sagely in agreeance with her blonde twin.

Backfire. Maybe the Yamanaka clan head couldn't play these games all day. Why did his daughters have to be such a handful? What if they just refused to come tomorrow? Do they know what is going on? No, they don't… Do they? Kasumi might know. But Ino was the one that said she didn't want to go.

During his mental worry rant, Inoichi had risen from his spot at the table and was amusing his family greatly as he clearly showed his panic on the outside. Including clutching his head, mumbling and turning around in circles and to make things worse, for some unknown and mutual sadistic reason neither his youngest daughter nor his lovely wife were feeling obliged to help him and his eldest wasn't even concealing her amusement as she started rolling around on the floor giggling hysterically.

After finally realising his unknowing, comedic performance Inoichi remained standing and slammed his hands onto the table to get everyone's attention, even though he already had it. Inoichi's eyes were eerily shadowed as he didn't move and only continued to stare down at the table while he waited for everything to be ready and take effect. Once Ino had gotten back into her chair looking a mixed between worried and shocked, and after the male composed himself, Inoichi made a last desperate effort to make his daughters interested in their visit tomorrow so as not to be made a fool of by his friends when he turned up empty handed.

Ino was sweating badly and fidgeting as if her life depended on it. Kasumi even seemed unnerved and kept glancing over at her sister. Airi was staring at her husband and wondering whether he had finally snapped and gone crazy after all of his years in the interrogation division. The three female Yamanakas were all contemplating roughly the same thing, what is wrong with Inoichi?

Inoichi slowly lifted his head and eyes, making contact with the wide blue eyes of Ino before moving his head slightly to do the same to Kasumi's brown coloured equivalent. Inoichi was thankful that his years of experience allowed him to conceal his rising amusement, even if it had failed him moments before.

"Who are you and what have you done with my daughters?"

All of the tension left the room, replaced now with confusion and gradually increasing anger. Ino jumped up from her seat and was now mirroring her father in stance but was not as composed with her expression, an area Inoichi noted on to improve. From the position of Airi it seemed of little coincidence that her eldest daughter had been placed across from her father at the table, they could both be a bit overly energetic and little drama queens when they wanted to be. Kasumi's expression seemed to outwardly mirror her mother's thoughts about the behaviour of half of the respectable clan head family.

"Who are _you_ and what have you done to _my_ dad?!"

Inoichi had reverted backwards in terms of maturity and was starting a staring contest with Ino and was not going to lose. Airi discretely gestured towards the quiet twin and the two of them started clearing the table while Inoichi and Ino finished whatever they believed they had started.

Airi enjoyed the company of both of her daughters but greatly appreciated the silence that emanated from Kasumi. As the both stood in silence in the kitchen, slowly doing the jobs necessary and purposefully taking their time so that when they returned to the dining room the two blondes would have finished their business, Airi had time to think. Airi would do this often. Just stand in silence and think about everything going on. She still worried about the future of her precious brunette that now stood next to her and if the clan would revert back to their unnecessary hatred. She also worried about the future of her eldest daughter, wondering if she would have the heart to become a successful kunoichi and lead the clan. With a deep breath and a clearing of the mind, Airi led Kasumi back into the dining room to witness both Inoichi and Ino now sitting down and acting the complete opposite to what they were only minutes prior.

Everyone was once again seated at the table and the conversation took on a more refined tone because now Inoichi knew just what to say to get his girls to listen to him for once. He also knew that if he made one wrong move then Ino would once again be extremely loud and stubborn and if Kasumi caught onto anything that she thought was off then she would alert Ino and the same issue would ensue.

"Do you two want to get the surprise tomorrow?"

Both girls were being cautious at this point.

"When did you two stop being curious?"

"We will only agree if you promise that it is a good surprise!"

Ino, like in so many other situations, was taking charge of the duo and making sure that everything would be good for her,…them. Inoichi knew that this was how things usually turned out, it was good if it was in the best interest of the twins. Inoichi already had his answer ready.

"It involves going out into the village,"

"Really!"

"And meeting some people,"

Ino and Kasumi seemed to forget everything about their father's weird behaviour and the events that had transpired in this Yamanaka household in the last few moments.

Their smiles didn't fade for the rest of the night. The shadow of these smiles were still visible on their faces once they had drifted off to sleep with dreams filled with speculations of the surprise they would get the next day.

* * *

The promised day had arrived and both Ino and Kasumi were awake and dressed before their breakfast was made. This action from the usually stubborn sleepers pleased Airi who normally acted as the persistent alarm clock for the girls. The food disappeared. The father was constantly annoyed. The mother was laughing at their antics and enthusiasm. The girls were extremely impatient.

"Have fun,"

Airi farewelled her daughters as her husband was dragged down the street, seeming to be reconsidering this whole adventure.

* * *

"Girls,"

"What is it dad? Why are you soooooo slow? Can we hurry up?"

"Ino," Inoichi groaned out but even though he was very exasperated at this pestering he was determined to get the last laugh in this game.

"Do you even know where you are going?"

This made Ino stop, causing her father to do the same and her sister to almost walk into said male. Ino was completely lost for a response and even at such a young age she had too much pride to ask for a destination or directions from anyone. Inoichi was solely focused on the ground staring Ino and the inner turmoil she was experiencing that he didn't initially notice the absence of Kasumi.

* * *

"Mum!"

Airi was doing a bit of cleaning in the living room and dropped her broom when she heard the voice of a child come from behind her. The startled Yamanaka spun around and stared in shock at the brunette Yamanaka who had just addressed her.

"Kasumi! What are you doing back?! Where are your father and Ino?!"

At this point Airi was crouching in front of her daughter and was frantically asking questions out of worry. Having no idea as to what reason her daughter could possibly have to come back, especially without the others.

"Mum,"

"What is it?! Are you okay?!"

"Mum,"

"Yes!"

"What is wrong with you?"

…

This made the older Yamanaka pause and gave her the couple of seconds that she needed to compose herself. Airi then noticed the worry on Kasumi's face, worry that was directed at her. Airi continued the conversation, interrogation, to mask her embarrassment at not being the calm and reasonable person her daughter had so far known her as.

"Nothing, nothing. So why are you back Kasumi?"

"Ino dragged dad down the street and then he asked if we knew where we were going. We don't know and Ino won't ask dad and we weren't very far from home so I thought I would come back and ask you. Do you know where we have to go and which way it is?"

Airi was stunned. How could such a small child be so responsible and logical?

"What were you thinking?! You foolish girl!"

Kasumi stumbled backwards at this unnatural, angry outburst from her mother.

"What di-"

"You should have stayed with your father!"

"Bu-"

"Don't you dare! There is no excuse!"

Amidst a brief pause for breath from her mother, Kasumi went against what her mother had just demanded and gave her most reasonable excuse.

"The village is safe,"

"I don't care!"

At this point Airi was nothing short of being possessed by a demon, an extremely overprotective demon that just got the fright of their life. Kasumi had fallen backwards and was now sitting on the floor. Shaking. She was determined to be strong. No tears.

"Sorry. I'll go back now,"

"Don't y-"

Kasumi didn't hear the rest of her mother's rant as she sped walked out of the house, not wanting to look like she was in too much of a rush to get away from her own mother by running. Airi probably wouldn't have noticed anyway, after all, she didn't notice the watery eyes.

* * *

By the time Kasumi had made it outside and forced her eyes to stop trying to shed tears, her father had noticed her disappearance and was making his way back down the street.

This time Kasumi knew not to let her parent have the first word.

"Which way are we supposed to go?"

She was just in time to cut off whatever her father was about to say and his face grew a little less stern.

"The opposite way,"

"Okay,"

Ino was very confused at why everyone was acting weird but then just started talking animatedly with her twin as Inoichi led them down the street in the correct direction this time.

Kasumi was going to be strong for Ino. She wasn't going to have the surprise ruined because she did something 'stupid'. Maybe she wasn't as smart and responsible as she thought. Her mother definitely didn't think she made the right decision. Definitely.

* * *

"Inoichi!"

"Hey,"

Inoichi, who had been ignoring his daughter's strange and slightly depressed and deflated behaviour on the journey to the Akimichi clan compound, went up to his two teammates, comrades and friends.

"Chouza! Shikaku!"

The Yamanaka greeted the two other clan leaders with handshakes and slaps to the shoulder.

"I'm surprised you came Shikaku. What got you motivated to leave the compound?"

"Very funny, but I was actually worried about you. It isn't like you to be this late,"

"Yeah, well, you don't have to deal with two stubborn and headstrong daughters,"

"Hey, how are those two doing? It sure has been a while since I have seen them. I was shocked to see how much Shikamaru had grown, can't imagine my heart will survive the surprise from those two,"

Chouza interrupted the small and harmless banter between the Yamanaka and Nara and said Yamanaka was all too eager to show off his two daughters to the Akimichi and Nara.

"Ino. Kasumi. Come here,"

Ino seemed a little bit uncertain but her naturally outgoing nature won over her internal, emotional struggle and she emerged from behind her father to give the two other adults in the room a blinding smile.

"Hello!"

This earned her two responses, with differing levels of enthusiasm, and then the attention was aimed at the quiet, and still shaken, brown haired Yamanaka child. Kasumi gave her own simple greeting but was a lot quieter in comparison to her blonde twin and also surprised the three clan leaders by doing a little bow as well.

"Yeah Inoichi, I'm sure this one is a huge handful,"

"Very funny Chouza but she can be a bit of a devil when she wants to be,"

This time it was Inoichi and Chouza's turn to have a small banter. Temporarily ignoring the twins.

"Kids, Shikamaru and Choji are through that door, don't cause too much trouble,"

With that invitation by the Nara the two girls made their way from the dining room to the next room and were met by miniature versions of the two adults they had just greeted.

Ino once again took charge. She didn't falter in her steps as she swiftly approached the pair while Kasumi was still not in the mood and simply wanted some time to think about her parents and their reactions. The two boys that were sitting in the middle of the living room didn't even look up at the blonde girl as the continued to do … nothing.


	4. 3 - Introductions

Ino was furious with those disrespectful boys and horrified that they wouldn't even look at her when she introduced herself! Ino had to repeat herself numerous times when she told the boys her name and tried to say hello. Shikamaru and Choji did nothing but continue their own little conversation before finally giving her a brief spout of attention only to ask why she was standing there and being so annoying. She had more tact then to start yelling and crying over their mean behaviour so all she could do was flash her signature smile, however fake it was, and walk calmly out of the room to her twin by the door frame followed by a faint remark of 'finally'.

"Ino?"

Kasumi had been leaning against the doorframe deep in thought and waiting for Ino to come and get her after she was finished with the initial introductions but was confused when said sister walked straight past her, grabbing her hand along the way, before stopping them both in a hallway not too far from the room.

"I hate them,"

"You never hate people. You didn't even hate Sayuri when she was being mean to you,"

"Yes, but I hate them,"

"Okay…"

"I'm going to get them back!"

"Um…"  
"They haven't seen you yet and they didn't even look at me so we can trick them with our twinness!"

"That-"

"What we will do is you will go back into the room and do your tricky talking to get them mad and scare them into coming out of the room. Then I will be waiting with the adults and I will scare them just by being there and they will think that I am you and you have some evil power or something!"

This conversation between the Yamanaka twins was going nowhere and Kasumi knew this, but at the moment she wasn't in the right mind to do anything. It took most of her effort just to try to talk some common sense into her blonde twin.

"Should you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Aren't you just being as bad as them?"

"Isn't it the same as what you did to Sayuri?"

It didn't matter that Kasumi stood in silence because Ino turned her back on the brunette and started mumbling under her breath, something to do with a 'know-it-all'. She wouldn't understand. It was different. It was to protect someone else. Ino isn't that mature though. She didn't even notice that Kasumi had disappeared back down the hallway.

* * *

The younger twin went back down the hallway to the door across from where the parents were. Kasumi once again occupied the space by the doorframe of the room where the two boys still sat together. It was easy to tell which was the Nara and which was the Akimichi as the resemblance between these children and the men with the Yamanaka clan head was clear to see. The room appeared to be a child's bedroom, most likely the Akimichi's, with a single bed up against the far wall a dresser and shelves occupying another wall. The last two walls had a window on one and a door on the other with toys strewn across the floor and a Yamanaka observing from the doorway. The Akimichi, Choji, was the chubby one sitting up on the rug in the middle of the room with light brown spiky hair and an expression the exclaimed deep concentration with his eyes undiscernible because of the slits caused by his eyelids and a near pout like expression on his face. This boy had red swirls on his cheeks which marked him as the Akimichi child as the Nara clan was not known for their facial markings, which meant that the Nara, Shikamaru, was the one lying down on the rug next to Choji with his back to the door. The only observations that could be made were that his black hair was in a spiky ponytail and he appeared to be asleep by the slow rise and fall of his sides.

It seemed that neither boy had yet to notice her presence and Kasumi didn't want to disturb them, they would have enough of that from Ino once she came up with her 'revenge plan'. With that simple thought and a want to not cause any more trouble today, Kasumi made her way back to where the three adults would be talking. She completely missed the two stares she got as she turned her back to the boys.

* * *

"Dad,"

Inoichi turned at the sound of a young girl's voice to see his youngest daughter standing just inside the room. From the open door behind her he could see that the door directly across the hallway, the door to Choji's room, was closed. Ino always had a habit of leaving the door to the room she was in open so that she could identify anyone who walked past and talk to them if she wanted. Where was the blonde Yamanaka?

"What is it Kasumi?"

The small child looked even smaller when she hunched her shoulders and stared at the floor.

"Can I stay with you?"

Inoichi knew better then to show his surprised and confused expression in front of his comrades, he would never hear the end of it about the interrogator not having a poker face, but this was very unusual behaviour from his youngest child as she was always Ino's shadow. Kasumi's behaviour had been very strange all morning but now wasn't the time to sort it out. Maybe she was just in a funny mood? Her mother had that problem sometimes.

"Sure,"

All that was needed to accompany the confirmation was a small smile to earn one from the brunette child, even if it was somewhat reserved and uncertain. Kasumi was considerably more shy without her twin to take charge and so all Kasumi did was go to her father, climb into his lap and within a few minutes was resting comfortably against her father's chest and losing some of the tension she had unwillingly gained within the past hour of the morning. Inoichi was more than happy to hold his little girl close and help her in whatever way possible. Chouza and Shikaku didn't make any comments and continued the conversation as if nothing had happened. They understood the desire to protect children from all physical, mental and emotional pain. The three clan heads may not know what was causing the pain, but it was obvious that at the moment all little, delicate-looking Kasumi Yamanaka needed was comfort.

* * *

An hour had passed since Kasumi decided to abandon her currently annoying sister and take refuge with her father until both herself and her blonde twin calmed down. Ino had at some point once again joined the two unresponsive boys while Kasumi rested and there had been no noise from the room to indicate any trouble. The three adults had also decided during this time to venture outside and sit on the back porch, with Inoichi carrying his unconscious daughter gently as not to interrupt her rest. The clan heads had decided to enjoy the nice weather and sunshine while competing in a few games of shoji. Fortunately for Inoichi, having his daughter in his arms was a good excuse to not have to play and get utterly defeated by the Nara genius and instead just watch that privilege get handed to Chouza.

"Not even once!"

"No,"

"Can't I win just once?"

"No,"

Both Inoichi and Shikaku responded animatedly to Chouza's whining, which had begun at his tenth defeat about half an hour before hand and had continued and increased in intensity with every inevitable defeat afterwards.

"Has either of us every won against you Shikaku?"

"No,"

The Akimichi heaved a large sigh, as he had many times that day, before reverting back to his usually cheerful disposition and challenging the Nara to another game with grand boast of finally breaking his invincible winning streak.

A few minutes into this new game of shogi, Kasumi groggily woke up and stared blankly at her surroundings for a few seconds before she recalled the day and recognised her smiling father. Inoichi quickly lifted a finger to his lips as he saw the brown haired, blue eyed Yamanaka child begin to speak and once he had her nod of understanding he then pointed to the game unfolding before them, previously unnoticed by Kasumi. Kasumi attempted to wriggle silently so that she could have a better look at this new concept before her and with her back now to her father, Inoichi smiled fondly and watched with amusement as his youngest daughter observed the game intently. It wasn't until after a few more game, defeats for Chouza, that the awake child was brought to the attention of the conversation. The normally quiet and unmotivated Shikaku purposefully altered the conversation from the usual one run by Chouza after every game as his head could no longer take the monotony.

"You interested?"

Kasumi straightened slightly at the unusual noise and a small nod from Shikaku confirmed her confused expression as to whether he was addressing her but before she could utter a response the large Akimichi decided to once again take control of the conversation.

"You are awake now! Did you see me almost beat him? It was a close game wasn't it?"

No chance for any type of response before another cascade of comments, exclamations and questions directed towards the Yamanaka child and the entire surroundings.

"Hey! Do you think the other kids are going to come out anytime soon? Should we go get them? Would they be behaving? What do you think?"

An exaggerated shrug.

"Are you interested in the game? Would you much rather stay here? Maybe learn it?"

A hasty nod.

This time before Chouza had an opportunity to speak more he was thankfully interrupted by his son as Ino had dragged Choji and Shikamaru out of the room shortly beforehand. Choji looked at his father, Shikamaru looked tired and Ino looked fidgety and upset.

"What's going on dad?"

"Ah, Choji! How are you kids doing? Are you all getting along?"

"Yeah…"

Choji was making it very obvious that something was going on but for a first meeting it didn't seem to go too badly. The clan heads knew it would take a while for the children to all get along or at least tolerate each other to a larger extent.

"One more game then we have to go back before Yoshino starts nagging me again,"

Being something said by Shikaku meant that there was a meaning behind it and likely not to be to embarrass Chouza in front of his son. It also didn't take more than a few seconds for Inoichi and Chouza to realise what it was that Shikaku was planning. The bonds of a team.

All of the currently standing children went to their respective fathers and proceeded to watch the game with great variance in interest. As before, Kasumi was watching the game with curiosity while Ino seemed extremely bored. Choji was uninterested and was just sitting in his father's lap eating the packet of chips that Chouza had neglected beside him after his fifth loss. Shikamaru was following every move of the game and had an aura of understanding in place of Kasumi's confusion. Even though these children are very young at the moment, these observations could be vital in their relationship later on, and the adults knew this. It was already getting interesting to begin with. After the observations were complete, Shikaku swiftly defeated Chouza and the Yamanakas and Naras said goodbye to their Akimichi hosts before going back onto the streets of Konoha and beginning their journeys home.

Both of their homes were in the same direction from the Akimichi compound and so the adults continued an old conversation while the three children had no idea what to do, what to talk about or, more importantly, who to talk to. Ino and Kasumi still had a little bit of bad blood over their argument earlier and Shikamaru was a Nara so wasn't expected to talk unless he felt it necessary. What happened next was a surprise, even to the adults.

"Thanks,"

Shikamaru earnt the attention of both of the girls standing to his right as they turned to face him, not sure who he was referring to and for what. He also earnt the attention of the adults walking in front of them who simply continued the conversation but in a hardly noticeably quieter volume.

At the inquisitive stares the Nara was annoyed at having to explain himself and so looked directly at the brown haired girl walking farthest away from him.

"You didn't try to wake me up or annoy Choji,"

…

"So were you asleep or awake?"

"Somewhere in-between,"

The atmosphere around the children, these two at least was not as tense as it was leaving the Akimichi compound but for Ino it only seemed to make things worse, especially when their conversation continued and she was left out of it while physically being between them.

"Are you interested in shogi?"

"It seems interesting but I don't really know anything about it. I mean, I figured a little bit out, but definitely not the rules…or the movement of the pieces…they are different right?"

"Yeah,"

"Do you know if they always play shogi when they get together?"

"If they don't go drinking,"

"Hahaha! Mum probably doesn't know a lot about that,"

"Same with my mum,"

As the conversation progressed, both Kasumi and Shikamaru adopted smiles of varying intensities while Ino started walking further and further behind them as to not get involved in the discussion that she was envious of and clearly being ignored in.

"Maybe I will teach you some day,"

"That would be nice, thanks,"

"Learn what?"

Ino's small patient had finally disappeared thanks to her jealousy and now she was determined not to be ignored by the rude boy and her, temporarily, mean sister.

"Shogi,"

The simultaneous response she received only began to anger Ino as she felt that she was losing her sister, even if she had finally been acknowledged by the Nara.

"Okay, well anyway I promise to teach you sometime,"

"Okay, that's a promise Shikamaru. Thanks!"

Before Ino could make a comment to match her attitude after being forgotten again she was interrupted by the suddenly halted adults.

"Shikamaru,"

Shikaku addressed his son and in doing so earnt the attention, and in Ino's case silence, of the girls.

"We're home. Maybe we will see the Yamanaka girls some other time,"

This was followed by a realisation that the group was indeed in front of the Nara compound and so farewells, with different levels of enthusiasm and sincerity, were exchanged between adults and children alike before Shikamaru and Shikaku disappeared inside and the trio of Yamanakas continued the small distance remaining of their journey home. In silence. With the impending catalyst of change already been and the beginning approaching with each step.

* * *

"How was the visit?"

Airi had plenty of time to calm herself down and compose herself after her anger had erupted at her youngest daughter so when the trio returned very few would have guessed that anything had happened, but Inoichi was one of those people.

"Good, it was good to catch up with everyone,"

"I meant about the children,"

"Oh, well they got along and there was no fighting. The girls were very well behaved,"

"Good,"

Even though Airi had composed herself, her clam mask still had cracks in it which became obvious when she was talking, but still not enough to alert her children that anything was wrong, even though Kasumi already knew something was wrong. Inoichi was trying to lighten the mood to further shelter his daughters from a very rare explosion from Airi which seemed inevitable at the current moment.

"Girls! Go get cleaned up and get ready for lunch. Sayuri and Mayumi are coming over shortly afterwards,"

"Yay!"

Instead of the simultaneous responses the sound only came from the blonde haired twin as the brown haired one attempted to put on a smile that didn't seem entirely fake and forced, no matter how true that observation was. Ino's smile became significantly less bright at the silence, Inoichi had an obvious frown while Airi's lips formed a dangerous and sour line. Not being able to bring herself to look at anyone in the room, Kasumi merely left to do as she had been instructed with downcast eyes and slumped shoulders. Kasumi hoped to not anger her mother by following instructions but instead achieved the opposite and sealed a crucial part of her destiny.

Ino looked at both of her parents questionably before hesitantly following after her depressed twin, but not before hearing the beginning of her parents' discussion.


	5. 4 - The Beginning Of The End

Everything that followed that fateful day got worse and worse. Lunch was silent as it seemed everyone was in a mood with Kasumi still upset, Ino deep in thought about what she had overheard, Airi still angry about one thing or another and Inoichi both confused and concerned. The family seemed to be slowly falling apart over something that was entirely insignificant in the larger scheme of things, but everyone wasn't looking at it this way. Either way Inoichi was eager to hold his family together as it was his duty as father, husband and clan head but with three stubborn females it could prove to be extremely difficult.

After lunch had been eaten and the table cleared, with the noticeable absence of Kasumi helping her mother, their expected guests still hadn't arrived and so Inoichi took this opportunity to try and dissipate the dark cloud hovering over the household.

"When are you two girls going to cut your hair?"

Airi had just finished up in the kitchen and had joined her husband on the couch in the living while the twins sat on the floor playing one of their hand games, that their father had taught them for training, with minimal enthusiasm. This statement achieved another angry expression from the usually composed Yamanaka clan head's wife and confused looks from the girls in question, until Kasumi worked out what it was her father was referring to a few moments later.

"Remember you girls told me the story about meeting Sayuri and said that you would cut your hair short now so that nobody would be able to pull it but it would also grow back by the time you joined the academy,"

"I didn't think they were being serious!"

Airi was clearly angry at this point. There was no way that her children would be breaking tradition over something that had already been resolved.

"Come on Airi, it could be a good idea and it would be long again by the time they went to the academy,"

"But-!"

"Airi. It isn't against tradition until they become ninja, so they don't even have to have it long for the academy,"

"Yes, but their hair is so beautiful! Why would they want it cut?"

"It has been getting rather long and they are still small so it could start getting caught in things. If that happens they would have to have it cut anyway,"

Airi was starting to consider Inoichi's argument but didn't want to relent easily purely because she was well aware that it was originally Kasumi's idea. She couldn't see that Inoichi was trying to bring them back together and instead was being stubborn and only serving to push them further apart.

"I won't be responsible for any consequences,"

All except Ino knew exactly who she was referring to when Airi declared this.

* * *

The visit by Sayuri did little to lift the downtrodden spirits of the Yamanaka twins but Airi had the experience and expertise to be the perfect example of composed and was even able to brush off Mayumi's concern and lie about the strange behaviour of her children. After the disappointing play-date and Sayuri and Mayumi left the clan head's household with the promise of 'same time next week' Airi no longer held her calm mask and both Ino and Kasumi had the bright idea of staying well away from their suddenly bipolar mother.

The next few days continued with a similar atmosphere and behaviour within the family, hardly anyone talked to each other, Ino and Kasumi barely ever played with each other, Airi always seemed sour and Inoichi tried to lighten the mood whenever he was home from the interrogation department, which was not as often as he would like. Airi reluctantly took the girls to have their hair cut in this time and then refused to let them leave the house afterwards, still afraid of what the rest of the clan would think after seeing this break of tradition even if it was not technically so. She even postponed the planned visit of Sayuri and Mayumi in order to keep it quiet as long as possible.

During this period of temporary imprisonment Ino and Kasumi started drifting apart. Kasumi was still able to tolerate Ino to a certain degree but instead of trying to talk sense into her twin Kasumi would now just leave the room and the presence of the usually annoying and bossy Ino. Ino started trying to spend more time with her mother while Kasumi turned more towards her books and her thirst for knowledge, no matter how limited her reading capabilities were at the present time. None of this was assisting in the current family relationship predicament. Either way, Airi would have to allow Sayuri and her mother to come back over at some point and it at the commencement of the inevitable day it was clear the wife of the clan head was nervous and slightly distressed.

"Ino! Kasumi!"

"Sayuri!"

Both Airi and Ino were shocked at Kasumi's participation in the recently extinct simultaneous exclamations. Airi ignored it and focused on her greetings towards Mayumi and Ino responded with the return of her blinding smile. Airi found it a lot harder to ignore the next comment, this time from Sayuri.

"You hair is short! Both of you!"

"Yep!"

Ino started showing off her short hair to Sayuri and going on about the hair clip she had gotten after the haircut. She was always going on about how she loved how the clip matched her eyes and with Sayuri around she could say her whole speech all over again. Sayuri was a great friend for Ino as her admiration for the clan head household meant that she thought that the twins could do no wrong, even the haircut was amazing with no exception. Sayuri especially loved Ino because Ino was a leader. Being a naturally shy person; Sayuri was a follower and having a similar personality to Kasumi seemed to drive them apart slightly. This was because Sayuri couldn't comprehend that one fo the twins was so similar to herself and so tended to prefer Ino's company so her idea of the magnificence of that family wasn't tainted or destroyed. A funny relationship which meant that it wasn't unusual for Sayuri and Ino to go off a bit on their own, and for Kasumi to stay more in the background. No one gave a second thought to the absence of the brown haired twin from the company of the other two children. Not until it was queried.

"Mum!"

Both Airi and Mayumi looked up at the generic call as Ino and Sayuri came out of the twins' shared bedroom. It was obvious that it was Ino that would have called out loudly but it wouldn't hurt to listen to Sayuri as well.

At the combined attention of the two Yamanaka ladies, Ino continued.

"Have you seen Kasumi?"

"Yes, she came through a few minutes ago. I think she is just outside on the back porch,"

"Yeah…she's probably reading again,"

Airi was looking a little amused at the exasperated expression on her blonde daughter's face.

"Why do you make it sound like a bad thing?"

"She won't play with us!"

The amusement became surprise…and suspicion.

"Is there a reason?"

"I don't know!"

"Ino, you need to calm down. You know Kasumi really wants to finish that book and she probably thought that if Sayuri was over you wouldn't be lonely if she read,"

Airi was a very convincing person, even with things she didn't believe in. She just didn't want Ino to create a scene; both of her children had been acting weird lately. The reason was unknown for Ino and for Kasumi it was concerning. Airi's explanation seemed to satisfy Ino, and in turn Sayuri, which led to both girls asking for permission to go outside, get Kasumi and head over to one of the nearby clearings which was home to lots of flowers and the children's favourite tree. They got permission, even if it was to mainly get them out of the house and resolve the unwanted changes in personality and attitude that had occurred over the past few weeks.

* * *

"Kasumi!"

Said girl was nearing the end of an interesting chapter of the book she had recently been engrossed in and if the current chapter was anything to go off then the next chapter, the final chapter, was extremely enticing at the moment, however if Ino was around it would be an impossible feat to continue doing a silent activity. With this realisation from the reserved Yamanaka twin, she put down the book and unwillingly turned her attention to her energetic sister with a small, partially fake, smile.

"Ino. Sayuri,"

"I talked to mum and she said that we could go to the tree clearing,"

"Okay, I will put this book away and meet you there,"

"Be quick!"

There was another smile from Ino and a quick wave from Sayuri as Kasumi got up and rushed inside. Airi's facial expression would always turn temporarily sour in Kasumi's presence before her mask reformed and she sent one of her perfect, sophisticated smiles in her direction as Kasumi placed the book on the dining room table before racing out to join her sister and their common guest. Even if Kasumi did something that was wanted by her mother it never seemed to please her anymore.

* * *

Kasumi knew that things were changing with her twin and thought that the best way to resolve it would be to play these games with Ino and Sayuri and make sure that she was indeed quick to the meeting place. Upon arriving at the clearing Kasumi noticed that both other girls were already over by the tree and starting to try and climb it.

"Ino! Sayuri!"

Kasumi barely got a response, a hand wave over the shoulder with not even a glance of acknowledgement.

"That isn't safe! Mum will get angry!"

"It's alright!"

Ino didn't even grace her with a call as she seemed intensely focused on her dangerous mission to scale the tree.

"You could get hurt!"

All Ino and Sayuri did was sigh to this exclamation and continue on with the unsupervised activity. Kasumi was just wondering why they would ask her to play if they weren't even going to listen or look at her.

Kasumi moved from the outskirts of the clearing to a patch of flowers and started making crowns and bouquets by herself. Ino and Sayuri were both eventually able to make it to the first branch and were happily gossiping, it may have taken them an hour or so but they seemed satisfied with their accomplishment.

Now came the purpose of Kasumi's presence and the beginning of the end of her relationship with her family.

* * *

From atop their vantage point Ino and Sayuri finally started including Kasumi and talking with her.

"Is it true you are evil?"

This made Kasumi drop her half-finished crown and direct a hurt face towards her surprisingly pleased looking twin.

"Why would you say that?!"

"I heard mum talking about how you were nothing but the devil or a demon taking on a human form and pretending to be my twin,"

By this point Kasumi was on her feet with the first signs of tears showing clearly even from Ino and Sayuri's spot above.

"Why would she say that? Why would you believe her?!"

"Well mum has been angry at you recently so there has to be a reason,"

"We are twins!"

"So?"

Kasumi was now on her knees crying and it took a bit of time and a lot of effort for her to compose herself to the point where she could answer her increasingly impatient and sadistic sister.

"We are twins! So if there is something wrong with me it would be the same for you!"

Ino didn't even flinch nor pause in her answer.

"I heard mum saying that it was an evil spirit or something. Which means it would only affect the one it infected or something like that. Either way I am good and you are bad!"

All of this was said with a sickly sweet smile on her face and a giggling Sayuri next to her. At the moment to would seem that if one of the twins had been inhabited with an evil spirit it would be Ino as she didn't even let Kasumi answer this time and seemed to enjoy her agony and the confirmation that she was the better twin.

"They say there is a legend that if there is a brunette heir they will try to destroy the clan. Some people are even saying that you getting our hair cut short is a sign of this. It must be true then,"

Kasumi didn't want to deal with this anymore and as she ran away from the clearing further into the Yamanaka's forest Ino continued to sit with Sayuri atop the tree branch with a proud smirk plastered on her features.

* * *

It was past lunch and getting well into the evening when Kasumi finally decided that she would return home. She was hungry and hoping, but not believing, that her mother would start getting worried as Sayuri had come over for her visit in the morning so Kasumi would have been gone for several long hours. The walk back scared her, not because she was lost but because she was afraid if what Ino had said was true and her mother really did hate her.

Kasumi purposefully walked at a slow pace but within half an hour had returned to her home, only to be greeted by a furious opening of the door, a forceful drag into the house by her hair and a beating. Airi had never disciplined the girls in this way before but had lost all reasonable sense upon seeing her youngest daughter approaching the house. Without an explanation for the sudden outburst Airi sent Kasumi into one of the spare rooms. Her departing stare to Kasumi told her that she would get another beating if she were to make a sound or leave the confines of the room she was currently in.

The brown haired Yamanaka child had believed that she had exhausted all of her tears in the forest when a new flooding cascade erupted from her eyes, only this time Kasumi had to be sure to keep quiet.


	6. 5 - The Sadistic Sister

It wasn't until Inoichi returned home from the interrogation department after dinner time that the situation was explained. Kasumi had gone the whole day with nothing but breakfast and emotional torment and now had to deal with her family, all of which had been acting strange recently. It was after Inoichi had been briefed on the situation that he went to collect Kasumi from her isolation, giving her nothing but an expression of disappointment when she had hoped that her father would be her saviour in this confusing and frightening circumstance. There was silence down the hallway and even for an extended period once they had reached the kitchen. Still with Kasumi being the only one who had no idea what everyone was suddenly angry at her for.

Then Ino made a whimpering noise drawing all attention towards her and causing Airi to race over to her and start whispering words of comfort. It was only on a closer inspection by Kasumi that she noticed that Ino had a cast on her arm. Was that relevant to what was happening? Was Ino alright? When Kasumi went to express concern for her previously mean sister she merely received a backhand across the face from her mother along with poisonous words telling her to be silent and open crying from Ino.

It was only after Ino had stopped crying after being comforted by both parents and Airi had scolded Kasumi that the situation was explained. Ino was asked gently by Inoichi to tell the story of what happened and according to Ino it went very differently than reality.

* * *

According to Ino:

Kasumi ran to catch up to both Ino and Sayuri at the clearing where the two girls were found to be making flower crowns and then Kasumi joined them and they all played peacefully for a bit. After a while Kasumi suggested that they climb the tree but Ino protested saying it was dangerous and that they needed a parent to supervise them. Kasumi just openly ignored the concerned Ino and was able to pressure Sayuri into climbing up the tree with her. Eventually Ino scaled the tree as well to make sure that she could keep an eye on the other two and so she wasn't left out. While they were sitting on the branch Kasumi started fighting with Sayuri and when Ino tried to stop them Kasumi accidently pushed her out of the tree. That was how Ino broke her arm. When Ino was on the ground crying in pain Kasumi just climbed down and then ran away and didn't even help her injured sister. Sayuri then had to help Ino and run back to Airi and Mayumi to tell them that Ino was hurt.

* * *

This story of pure fiction written to make Kasumi seem like a horrible person was told with an emphasis on drama. Ino would say this in between sniffles and sobs and would glance at Kasumi and then shrink in pretend fear behind her mother.

"Kasumi was acting very scary and I would forgive her because it was an accident but then she just ran away and left me!"

This dramatic finale was completed with another huge outburst of tears.

While Inoichi and Airi continued to comfort Ino once again Kasumi merely stood stunned. It was a slight relief to finally have everything explained but Kasumi was utterly bewildered at the story that Ino had fabricated just in order to get her twin in major trouble. The other problem was that their father would not be able to get the truth because Airi specifically forbid the clan's mind techniques being used on the girls outside of training and instead a trust should be established without the need to resort to such invasive jutsus. Another thing was that even though Inoichi might suspect something with his training Airi would insist on Ino telling the complete truth and will eventually convince Inoichi of the same thing. If what Ino had said in the clearing was right and everyone thought she was some sort of evil, spirit possessed child of destruction then no one would believe Kasumi at all. At least Kasumi now had an idea about why Airi hated her so much recently.

When her parents eventually turned to her for an explanation Kasumi only had the energy to say that she hadn't done anything. Because of this the conversation didn't go anywhere and she was eventually sent back to the spare room without anything to eat. The shock was getting too much. First the clearing and now Ino's fake recount. It didn't end though. Inoichi, who was escorting his brown haired daughter to her new room of isolation and confinement, left her with some parting, heart stabbing words.

"I'm disappointed Kasumi. I would have thought you would have at least helped your sister. What you did, that is not what family or ninja do,"

With this Kasumi resigned herself to cry until sleep took the torment away. Cry for her lost family.

* * *

Luckily the spare room was half there for guests and half for storage so Kasumi at least had a bed to sleep on, even if it was extremely dusty. It also had some books in it so Kasumi had something to occupy her long days with. Airi had even decided that Kasumi was allowed food! The young Yamanaka was brought breakfast, lunch and dinner and a bottle of water along with each meal. Finally she had a bucket and a few changes of clothes. This was all that consisted of her days for the next couple of weeks while she was in her punishment. At first it hardly affected Kasumi as she was busy trying to figure out everything that was going on and why Ino had decided to suddenly turn on her so viciously for no obvious reason. Eventually Kasumi figured that it was best just to go along with everything, after all the punishment had to finish at some point. In the meantime Kasumi became very knowledgeable about plants and poisons as she read every book in that room twice and every book was on these clan specialties.

After her two weeks of confinement nothing much changed besides the ability to now leave the room and go to the bathroom or get an extra drink of water. The spare room became Kasumi's new room as Ino was apparently too scared to have Kasumi around and Kasumi spent most of her time there so that she wouldn't upset Airi or Ino. Airi still made Kasumi take her meals to her room and Inoichi didn't train her as much, not even the hand games. Sayuri never came over anymore and instead Ino would leave and either meet at a clearing or at Sayuri's own house. Either way Kasumi was still isolated from everything outside the Yamanaka clan head's house. No more trips through the village with Airi and definitely no visits with Inoichi to the Akimichi's to see Choji and Shikamaru. The only company was books, which would prove to cause even more trouble for Kasumi later on. Besides this Kasumi was still able to fall into a routine which wasn't entirely terrible. The only disruption was Ino's new hobby, tormenting Kasumi and doing things to get her into trouble. Most commonly Ino would get a cut or bruise and say that Kasumi had attacked her or go to Airi and say that Kasumi and been saying really mean things to her. On all occasions Kasumi would receive a visit by Airi to her new room and brace herself for the loud onslaught after Airi was finished yelling, and sometimes hitting, Kasumi would proclaim her innocence before Airi stormed out of the room, slamming the door and screaming "Liar" over her shoulder.

* * *

It was approaching a very special time for the two girls; they would soon be starting at the academy. This got everyone in the clan very excited. There was even a whole clan feast and party put together to commemorate this occasion, the official beginning of the future generation of shinobi for the Yamanaka clan as well as the start for their next clan heir. This was a rare event both within the clan and for Kasumi specifically as she was allowed to leave the house, just in case some of the other clan members started asking questions about where she was. Airi was adamant that the names of herself, Inoichi and Ino would not be tainted with the confirmation that the younger twin was indeed evil. Airi was just thankful that both Ino and Kasumi's hair had now grown long so that they could start following the tradition, even if it was just the academy and they were yet to become shinobi it was still a strong symbol showing how everything was okay, even if it wasn't entirely true.

The event was going very well and Airi was pleased and even optimistically calling the day a success. Ino wasn't showing her fear of having to sit next to Kasumi and Kasumi had not uttered a single word, that was until one of the elder members of the clan decided to have a conversation with both of the twins. This was one of the Yamanakas which was not concerned with the superstition and didn't falsely judge Airi in hopes that the brown haired child was not the clan head's. She freely approached both children and started a discussion about a simple topic; flowers. At first it was simple questions such as what their favourite flowers were and why and then a bit of a naming game about some of the common flowers found within the Yamanaka compound. The conversation gradually developed into a much harder quiz about the different functions of each part of certain flora and what these plants were capable of producing, either a medicine or type of poison. It was at this point that Kasumi's answers became less minimalistic and started expressing her true knowledge about this important subject. She seemed to completely forget the scrutiny of Airi and instead was having fun and eagerly soaking up the extra information that the elder woman gave to fill in any gaps in the conversation. This earnt the attention of not just Airi and Inoichi but most of the Yamanaka clan as well. Most were pleased that a child had such a profound knowledge and interest in a major part of their clan life, mind techniques and flowers were a central part of the clan and this child appeared to be a natural. This pleasant atmosphere lasted the rest of the feast with other Yamanakas deciding to approach the bright child and query her themselves about her knowledge on this topic and even some other less relevant ones. By the end of the day Ino had been mostly ignored and Kasumi was having the best time of her life.

* * *

Needless to say both Airi and Ino were not pleased with this sudden favouring of Kasumi and on the conclusion of this grand event Kasumi once again returned home to an angry mother and mean, now jealous, sister. A jealous sister who made it very clear to her mother that she was very upset at Kasumi's sudden attention and that it was obvious that Kasumi was being purposefully mean to poor, innocent Ino.

"What do you think you were doing?!"

Kasumi still hadn't come down from her momentary high from good attention and was not expecting this sudden change in atmosphere.

"What?"

This only infuriated Airi more and created a sinister smile on the blonde twin.

"Don't be such a stupid girl! How dare you humiliate your sister in such a way!"

"What?"

This nearly earnt Kasumi a slap to the face but Airi knew that in Inoichi's presence this action wasn't entirely approved. Instead she settled with a violent shove which resulted in Kasumi tripping over and spending the rest of the one sided yelling contest on the floor.

"You completely and utterly humiliated Ino at the party! How did you even learn all that stuff?! It doesn't matter! Go to your room and stay there! And if you think you are so smart about flowers then you can start spending your days working at the back of the flower shop!"

Nothing else was said to Kasumi for the next couple of weeks. She was once again experiencing her family isolation.

* * *

Airi did not keep to her promised threat and Kasumi was not given the privilege to leave the house and venture into the village to work at the Yamanaka flower shop and maybe even enjoy herself and learn something interesting. This meant that Kasumi once again had nothing to do except read over the books again and take in what the elder had told her at the party, in other words she was continuing with what had gotten her into trouble. Another problem that Kasumi was faced with was the upcoming enrolment at the academy in case another incident like the party happened with Kasumi 'humiliating' Ino because of Ino's lack of knowledge. While Kasumi was eager to learn and study and wanted to get ahead in her classes she knew that she didn't have that opportunity as her mother would disapprove greatly and very verbally.

With this dilemma hanging precariously over her head Kasumi was unable to show the same level of enthusiasm as Ino as the time leading up to their first day of the academy turned from weeks to days. As Kasumi became more withdrawn and lost in thought Ino thought up one more plot to … commemorate their attendance at the academy and the start of their journey to become shinobi of the hidden leaf village.

* * *

"Tomorrow!"

Ino was bounding around the table at breakfast repeatedly shouting this word over and over again making sure that nobody would forget when she would official begin her journey to become a kunoichi of Konoha. Airi was beaming with pride and Inoichi couldn't finish his breakfast because of the smile cemented on his face. Kasumi however was excluded from this family moment as she was eating her breakfast in her room like always but was able to hear with extreme clarity the excited proclamation from her distant twin. Today was going to be exceptionally long for the brown eyed Yamanaka twin with her parents talking animatedly to her sister about who happy they were for her and all the things she has to remember for and expect from the first day at the academy and leaving Kasumi unnoticed and forgotten in the background, as always.

All of this happened while Kasumi was finishing off her small collection of books for the second time that week and she was surprised but happy when she heard someone entering her room. Upon hurriedly abandoning her book Kasumi glanced up to notice with joy that it was her father who had come to give her an unusual visit but it soon became clear from his stern expression that his presence in her room was only because she was in trouble. Kasumi's expression changed quickly upon this realisation to her default blank and emotionless mask that she had adapted over her time of isolation and rejection. Nothing was said or had to be spoken between the Yamanaka father and daughter as Kasumi silently followed his tall stature down the hallway and into the kitchen to see what scheme Ino had brewed in her mind this time to ruin the week for Kasumi.

"You devil child! You horrible, jealous brute!"

It was obvious which parent had already started their reprimanding of the silent Yamanaka girl and it was only with a quick look at Ino that the situation was understood.

"How could you destroy your sister's beautiful hair?! Don't you know the significance of long hair for this clan?!"

Kasumi had long since lost her patience with Ino's lies and deceit and had no idea how to peacefully converse with her mother any more either.

"Technically it isn't a tradition until we graduate the academy,"

This back-chatting didn't please Airi at all and after a lot of yelling from Airi, more disappointment from Inoichi and excessive crying from Ino Kasumi was allowed to return to her room but only after Ino's hair had been fixed and Kasumi's was cut just as short.

Both of the Yamanaka twins would have to start their time at the academy with very short hair but neither of them cared. Ino was pleased her plan had worked and Kasumi was just thankful that she would now be able to leave the house on a regular basis.


	7. 6 - Academy Joys And Problems

The day had arrived when Ino and Kasumi would officially start their journey to become kunoichi with their first day of attendance at the academy. The previous night Airi had been begging and trying to convince Inoichi that Kasumi shouldn't be allowed to go, once again out of fear of judgement with the looming superstition. Inoichi stood his ground and for once in the past few months did something nice for his brown haired daughter. Either way the next morning was filled with both excitement and apprehension and before Airi could continue her argument against Kasumi starting the academy Inoichi left the house and took both of his girls to their second home for the next few years.

The short journey to their destination almost made it seem as if nothing was wrong with the family. Ino was bright, bubbly and talkative with her signature smile adorning her face, Inoichi was happily keeping his daughter amused by participating in the conversation and Kasumi stood on the other side of her father with a reserved smile as her chosen expression and an inquisitive gleam in her eyes as she surveyed everything around her. Nobody noticed this as much as the Akimichi duo and Nara pair that stood at a designated meeting place waiting for the last members of their small group to arrive. Upon the trio's arrival at the small group there were the customary introductions between old friends; the adults talked about their children growing up and Kasumi got to interact with the only couple of people she considered as friends as they didn't seem to detest her presence.

"Hey! Kasumi! Ino!"

Choji gave the vocal greeting while Shikamaru gave a nod, and slight smile, towards the Yamanaka twins. Once all four children were standing together the questioning began.

"Long time no see Kasumi!"

Shikamaru gave a nod of agreeance to his friend's comment and phrased the question in more detail.

"You haven't been coming with your father and sister to the get-togethers. Ino said you were sick. Are you feeling better?"

Kasumi was a little stunned at this revelation that Ino had lied about her absence but wasn't too concerned once she deduced it was probably for the best.

"Yeah, I'm just happy that I was able to get better for the first day of the academy,"

However Kasumi's fake smiles were not nearly as good as Ino's, luckily Choji interrupted Shikamaru's comment about this.

"Yep that is luckily. Do you think we will all be put in the same class?"

By this stage Choji was munching on a bag of chips but it was still easy for the three other children to understand his hopeful question.

"That would be the best!"

Ino was getting jealous of Kasumi's attention and took this opportunity to be as loud and cheerful as possible, obviously without noticing the exasperated expressions on the two males' faces as soon as she started to speak. So the loud ruckus from her lips continued to everyone else's annoyance.

"Do you think they will put us all in a squad together when we graduate?! Like our fathers' squad?!"

"Ino,"

"What is it Shikamaru?! Don't you think my idea is fantastic?!"

"Yes,"

With this Ino clapped her hands together with another grin on her face which shortly died with Shikamaru's exasperated next statement.

"I was agreeing with how I didn't like your idea,"

"WHAT?!"

This outburst earnt a response from the adults who had been content with the children having their own conversation about this important day. Inoichi knew that if his eldest daughter started a rampage then this big day would turn extremely sour very quickly.

"Are you kids playing nice? How are you all feeling? We are almost there but you lot might want to hurry up a little if you don't want to be late on your first day at the Academy,"

Ino put on a brave face to reassure her father that she could compose herself and control her emotions like a good kunoichi before turning back to the young male who had previously antagonised her. With her loud voice back and her smile in place the conversation continued.

"Why don't you like my idea?!"

By now Choji and Kasumi had dropped back from the steadily progressing argument, neither of them daring to speak in case the angered duo turned on them. Choji's munching became quieter and the only break from his hand's motion from chip bag to mouth was a couple of occasions to offer a chip to the girl next to him.

"Squads only have 4 people and one has to be a jonin,"

"So?!"

"There would only be 3 of us and there are 4,"

"Your –"

Ino's next comment was interrupted by the sighting of the Academy building and said girl letting out an incredibly high pitched and deafening squeal which hurt all 6 people around her.

"We're here!"

Inoichi, Shikaku and Chouza all laughed at the extreme enthusiasm from the blonde Yamanaka child as they herded all 4 clan children towards the already large crowd of parents and children gathering at the entrance to the recognisable and important establishment.

* * *

The opening ceremony went the same as always with a speech from the Hokage about the bright and important future of the children present, followed by a brief tour of the complex for the children and then the highly anticipated sorting of the classes.

"Yeeesssssssssss!"

All of the other newly inducted students of this particular class turned to the blonde haired Yamanaka child, subsequently causing the brunette double to slide further down her seat to be obscured by the table due to both embarrassment and a familiar pain resonating in the ear closest to her hyperactive twin. Shikamaru and Choji performed similar actions but thanks to the Nara's earlier disagreement with the blonde he was sitting furthest from her and was fortunate enough to not have any hearing problems for the next couple of minutes as Ino's voice declined to decrease in volume as she started another unnecessary, one-sided conversation.

"I told you we would all be in the same class together! Isn't this great?! Hey, when do you think our teacher will come back?! Do you think we will start our lessons today?! I hope not! What was her name again?! How easy do you think this will be?! I mean, we are clan kids so we have a big advantage at the moment! Who do you think we should make friends with?!"

This final question required an answer for Ino to continue her rant and so, after pleading glances from both boys, Kasumi decided to indulge her twin by answering and in doing so take one for the rest of the team by being the one to openly admit to knowing the class' newest headache.

"We should be friends with everyone in case we get put on the same team as them when we graduate,"

Ino's expression was one of complete shock for a few seconds before her enthusiasm and smile came back ten-fold.

"That's brilliant!"

"Ino-"

Before Shikamaru could complain any further their new teacher walked back into the room and silencing the numerous noisy conversations taking place throughout the class. The Chunin was a lady in her early thirties who had been doing this same job ever since her promotion and so had over a decade of experience with loud, hyperactive and impatient children. First years were her specialty as she had to take their immature energy and turn it into shinobi potential. Starting the next year the class would receive a Chunin that would stay with them until graduation but until then they were all hers.

The only job for the remainder of the day was to lay down the rules, guidelines and class schedules so that the children had an idea of the type of work they would be doing each day. Along with the briefing was a summary of what they would be expected to learn throughout the year to prepare them for the next step and how important it was not to fall behind. This last sentiment seemed to worry quite a few of the children. Mainly the civilian born kids who were sitting at the back of the class, lacking confidence to sit at the front which was mostly occupied by the still overly excited clan kids, were the ones who turned glum because they knew they were the ones who were most likely to fall behind and even drop out of the Academy within a couple of years.

Once all the information was relayed by the teacher, and mostly forgotten by the young children, the rest of the day was dedicated to networking as the teacher left the children alone to tend to the rest of her preparation for the coming year of school work. For most of the clan associated children it was an opportunity to catch up with old friends that were first introduced by their parents since they were younger children. For the civilian based kids it was a time to try and make friends with the same status and nervously stare at the clan kids, hoping to get the courage to talk to one of them eventually but petrified of the potential rejection. Even though they were only children, they still knew the hierarchy within the village and had been explicitly told not to become an embarrassment to the family or cause unnecessary trouble.

"Kasumi! Isn't the Academy great?! And there are so many other kids here!"

"Yeah it is great. You should go talk to some of the others,"

"Yeah!"

With the tone of the passively antagonistic comment from Shikamaru going unnoticed by Ino, said girl ran off to talk to another group of students and in doing so left her three companions in a comfortable silence. Choji, who had already been told off by the teacher for eating in class, had now taken out his final packet of chips from his bag and was hiding behind the dark haired Yamanaka and Nara so as to hopefully avoid detection from the teacher if she happened to walk back into the room. The silence was broken shortly afterwards when Kasumi found a rare flaw in the Nara's plan.

"You know once she makes new friends she will make us talk to them, right?"

The reaction of the Nara was a hilarious expression of horror followed by a look of exasperated resignation that was accompanied by greater than normal slumped shoulders and head tilted back all the way to look at the ceiling. Once he was able to bring himself to lower his head again and look at the girl next to him, Shikamaru continued the pleasant conversation.

"At least it has some short term benefits. I really couldn't deal with her high pitched voice anymore. How do you deal with it every day?"

"Books and separate bedrooms,"

After a shared smile between friends the two went back to a comfortable silence with Choji quickly finishing off his packet of chips. They were lucky that Ino didn't feel the need to introduce them to her new friends that day so spent the time talking about everything from shogi to food to flowers with each person in the party engaging in the conversation.

The first day of the Academy went well for everyone, Kasumi included but it all went downhill from there.

* * *

The rest of the week was similar to the first day. Ino and Kasumi would walk down the street to meet up with Choji and Shikamaru before continuing to the Academy as a group with Ino talking loudly, Shikamaru arguing with her and complaining about her, Choji eating from a packet of chips and Kasumi just trying to stay out of the trouble between her sister and friend. Once at the Academy all four would sit together in the second row with Ino on the aisle so that she could communicate with more people within the class. When class started Shikamaru would fall asleep, Choji would start eating more chips, Ino would be continuously talking, whether it be answering questions from the teacher or making new friends during class while the teacher cast annoyed glances and the occasional comment which mostly went unnoticed, while Kasumi would take notes and do the notes to try and stay out of the trouble around her. During the breaks from class the four would sit together with Ino leaving half way through the break to go and talk to others while the other three would find a bit of peace to be able to talk amongst themselves. What everyone failed to realise that the first week was the easiest.

The following week was when the real class seemed to start with the teacher being much stricter on the actions of her pupils. Shikamaru started receiving detentions for his naps and was repeatedly woken up during lessons in unpleasantly loud ways, the teacher could put Ino's voice to shame sometimes. Choji had his snacks confiscated more regularly as well as detention alongside Shikamaru. Ino was scolded repeatedly about disrupting class and even her eagerness to answer questions in class couldn't encourage the teacher to favour the energetic blonde. Kasumi remained quiet and kept doing her work, occasionally talking to Ino, Shikamaru or Choji and luckily not getting into any trouble by keeping the conversations short.

Lunches turned into the worst time of the day for Kasumi. It was good to be able to talk to Shikamaru and Choji more but it was Ino and her new friends that were causing problems for the innocent brunette. Apparently Ino was bringing family life to school as rumours about Kasumi being some devil was spreading quickly.

A group of these girls approached Kasumi one day when they found her alone at lunch, after Choji and Shikamaru left to go spend some time with a couple of kids they had managed to become friends with over the brief time of the Academy starting. Kasumi had gotten into the habit of bringing some of her books to the Academy to reread them during her occasional periods of solitude. Another quality that made her an easy target for these girls who appeared to be having a boring break.

"Hey!"

This loud exclamation caught Kasumi's attention but she refused to register the tone in which it was set as she didn't want her mood to darken.

"Hello,"

This caused giggles and snickers.

"Is it true you are evil?"  
This question echoed inside Kasumi's head as it was the same thing that Ino had said before she started becoming sadistic and drifted further and further away.

"Why would you say that?"

Unlike last time with Ino, Kasumi did not raise her voice when answering.

"Ino said that you are a devil in human form which is pretending to be her twin so that you can be mean to her!"

This last statement put a triumphant and sinister grin on the speaking girl, obviously the leader of the group of girls. If Kasumi hadn't gotten used to similar treatment from Ino she may have been tempted to say something to dissolve such an ugly expression from the other girl but her calm façade was simply hardened.

"Have I been mean to Ino?"

"She said that you caused her to break her arm and then you cut her hair and you scare her and you are only ever mean when you two are alone so nobody else can see how horrible you are!"

"Yeah!"

"That's what she says!"

"And, and, and you are the reason why Ino gets into trouble in class because, because-"  
"Yeah! That's right!"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah!"

By this stage most of the girls from the group had found the courage to exclaim their support for their leader and the lies which came flowing easily from her mouth. Kasumi still didn't feel like caring. Yes, she was upset that her safe haven of the Academy had been destroyed but had figured it was inevitability all along.

"Whatever,"

With this Kasumi closed the comments by turning back to her book and promptly ignoring the remainder of irrelevant words that came out of her classmates' mouths.

It wasn't long until this rumour started spreading to everyone else in the class which quickly led to Kasumi becoming avoided and Ino being pitied. It wouldn't have affected Kasumi very much, after all she didn't talk to very many people anyway, if it wasn't for the whispers and the displays that had it appear as if any contact with her would lead to the death of the other party. All of this started with Ino's sadistic nature towards her twin but was only put into action through jealousy. Even though Ino didn't particularly like Choji and Shikamaru she still felt that everyone should like her more than her sister and so the obvious displeasure they showed towards the blonde angered her to the point of revenge. She made sure that it got to the stage that Shikamaru and Choji had to make the decision on whether to stay by Kasumi's side or abandon her if they too didn't want to be treated like a deadly disease. Both boys would have stayed faithful if it wasn't for their parents reminding them that they can't bring any shame to their clan.

Eventually it got to the point where Kasumi's life was a constant. Nobody to talk to at home and nobody to talk to at the Academy; no friends. Kasumi merely spent her time reading and avoiding other people. The Academy was as dreaded as home and so with no safe place to go there was nothing left but to accept that this was what was meant to and would always be for the short life of Kasumi Yamanaka.


	8. 7 - A New Start

A year had almost passed since the Yamanaka twins commenced their attendance at the Academy in their village. Things had gone well for the first couple of weeks and then Kasumi's world was darkened yet again. With nothing good in her life and nobody to turn to Kasumi simply lived day to day with her solitude and books. She was isolated at home and religiously avoided at the Academy, even eventual intervention by their teacher had accomplished nothing and if anything had angered her parents at the news of this involvement. They were angered even further when the teacher asked them to come into the Academy one afternoon so that the female chunin could speak to them personally and Airi made sure to tell Kasumi of her possible punishments if she dare to embarrass the clan.

The fateful afternoon arrived and Ino and Kasumi both had to stay behind after the conclusion of their classes to wait for their parents. Ino tried her best to talk to the teacher and earn as many brownie points as possible but the unchanged stoic expression of the older female proved this hopeless but did not deter the energetic, and slightly oblivious, Yamanaka. Both brunettes in the room breathed out a sigh of relief when they were joined by two other adults, although Kasumi's relief was short lived at the sight of her mother's expression. The parent-teacher-student meeting commenced… with silence. After offering the Yamanaka clan head and his wife a seat with their children standing one either side the chunin remained quiet, seemingly contemplating her next words extremely carefully.

"Inoichi Yamanaka, Airi Yamanaka. Thank you for coming. As you know I have asked you to come here today to discuss your daughter,"

Airi cast a glance to her youngest who stood by her side, to ensure displeasure could be expressed swiftly. After noticing this, the speaking woman added another sentence to her rehearsed speech.

"All good things I promise you. I would actually like to discuss her promotion into the year above,"

"Of course. That is wonderful,"

"Wonderful! When will Ino start?!"

Inoichi and Airi both responded positively in their own ways but the last question from the wife of the Yamanaka clan head made the other woman extremely uneasy.

"Well Ino is definitely above average within the class but Kasumi is the one with exceptional talent and the potential to succeed in going further,"

Inoichi's hand fell from Ino's shoulder, who stood by his side, while Airi could not hide her astonishment fast enough to not be noticed by everyone present.

"I'm sorry?"

The teacher turned to look at Airi directly.

"Kasumi has come number one in every aspect of the class and I have heard that she has great success in her kunoichi classes as well. Kasumi dedicates herself to both her physical training and her theory studies. She has aced every test and has an unnaturally mature demeanour for someone her age. With her kunoichi classes I hear that her extensive knowledge of flora, her extreme patience and her calm attitude has led to her being quite accomplished in the activities and lessons. Basically, her level of work makes it unfair and unproductive to keep her at this level when she easily has the potential to keep up with the higher class. I have discussed this with other chunin here who have observed and agreed with me and this has been taken to the Hokage and approved. All we are doing now is notifying you of this opportunity as the last piece needed to make this move official is your consent,"

Both of the Yamanaka parents remained in shock because their brown eyed daughter had never told them of the success she was having in class. Ino was always telling them about her day but Kasumi would just say that everything was 'okay' and this satisfied both parents. Now they were caught completely by surprise and didn't really know how to react. Yes it was good that one of their daughters was doing exceptionally well in her shinobi studies and representing their clan well and with great distinction but they never thought it would be the brunette twin to succeed to this extent. Kasumi always seemed too reserved to become anything more than a competent kunoichi while Ino had the social skills to climb the ranks and the confidence to never give up in this endeavour.

After this initial shock had time to wear off Inoichi demonstrated some of his shinobi skill by suddenly appearing behind his quiet daughter and placing a gentle hand on top of her head.

"This is great! She must have a lot of skill if she was able to fool us! So, when will she start?"

Inoichi finally found his voice through the rising bubble of emotional pride that swelled in his throat at the accomplishments of his little girl and was softly laughing with joy as he praised her and asked his question.

"Well, it is almost the end of the year so she wouldn't be able to do much in these next few weeks but if she goes to the next class now she can meet her new peers and be better prepared for the next year,"

"Wonderful! Tomorrow Kasumi will start her new shinobi path,"

Inoichi continued to speak on behalf of his family and clan while Airi still hadn't spoken a word. All of the finishing details were dealt with between the family and teacher before the four Yamanakas left the Academy building to do some impromptu celebrations. They had entered that building believing that Kasumi was in trouble only to discover it was entirely the opposite and, while Airi still hadn't come to terms with all of this, Inoichi felt that he needed to make it up to Kasumi for doubting her in the first place. With this the group made their way to a well-known restaurant for a celebratory dinner and a brief interrogation of Kasumi to find out what she had been doing for her studies and training to gain such notice by her teachers.

The dinner was the first one in a long time where they were like a proper family. Airi was actually engaging and talking with her youngest daughter, Kasumi wasn't scared that everything she did would turn into some sort of punishment or an argument, Ino was being somewhat genuinely nice and sincere towards her sister who she usually teased and isolated and Inoichi was smiling which had become more and more rare as his family slowly fell apart and his work prevented him from changing too much. All in all Kasumi had gained respect from her family and felt more accepted in that moment than she had for over a year, which felt like forever. Her mother talked about taking her to the flower shop sometimes so that she could expand and practise her knowledge of flora and her father talked about meeting up with the Naras and Akimichis to tell them about all that was happening. If Kasumi had known that working hard at the Academy would produce results like this with her family she would have told them about her good grades a long time ago instead of hiding them out of fear of making her twin look bad and getting told off again for 'embarrassing' Ino.

When Kasumi returned home with her family she excused herself from their company with the excuse that she needed to rest for tomorrow when in fact she wouldn't sleep a wink the entire night and the hesitant smile refused to dim at all as well.

* * *

This was even more frightening then her first day of the Academy almost a year ago. This time she wouldn't know anyone and nobody else would be feeling the same thing that she was experiencing right then and there. Everyone else in the class would have known each other for at least two years and here she was, an outsider just walking into their class and disrupting the balance, structure and hierarchy that had been created by the students over these couple of years. She was most likely not going to be welcomed with open arms or if she was accepted it would be because two groups were fighting over new 'members'. Either way it was not going to be very fun for Kasumi but like her previous teacher had said, these last couple of weeks in this class were for her to become comfortable and familiar with her new surroundings before she started another new year after the brief break given to the students at the end of the year.

Kasumi had made sure to arrive at the Academy earlier than usual on this day so that she had the opportunity to meet her new teacher before having to deal with all of her new peers. Upon entering the new classroom her efforts were rewarded by the sight of a male teacher about the same age as her previous teacher but with short, dirty blonde hair and bright green eyes. He obviously heard her entering, and probably her slight erratic breathing, as he turned to face her with a small but warm smile.

"You must be Kasumi Yamanaka,"

"Yes sir,"

Kasumi didn't want to get on her teacher's bad side and assume that her reputation would keep her safe and so politely replied to the statement with a quick bow and nod of the head. This amused her new teacher who then went on to introduce himself as Itona Sensei and explain the rough structure of the class work and activities before describing the type of work she would have to complete in order to catch up to the rest of the class but all of this was said with the same confident smile. It was after this short time of about a quarter of an hour that other students started to arrive and quickly took notice of the new presence which sent uncomfortable whispers spreading throughout the small body of children. Once the class commenced there was a small introduction and explanation concerning Kasumi before she was directed to the end of a bench on the front row of the class to start work.

Everything was very similar to her previous class except that the work was harder and more in depth and the activities were more complicated, as expected. Even the class breaks weren't very different with Kasumi choosing a tree to sit beneath to read another book. It seemed that the rumours from her previous class had spread much further then Kasumi had first anticipated as her new classmates were avoiding her like the others. It was beginning to amaze Kasumi at what these shinobi-in-training were willing to believe; she had hoped that these older students would have had a bit more common sense but she shouldn't have expected too much of a difference if most of the adults in her clan acted the same way. Even with all of this it was safe to say that Kasumi enjoyed these classes a lot more than her other one because even if they were almost the same if Kasumi didn't have to worry about Ino then it was all worth the change and temporary uncertainty experienced at the beginning of the day.

All of this became a new routine over the next couple of weeks with nothing new or exciting happening until the very last day of the Academy for that year.

* * *

Being the last day of the Academy meant that the teachers were taking a bit of pity on their students and giving them a bit of a treat by spending most of the day outside and doing no theory work. This particular class had gotten permission to head out of the Academy grounds and go to one of the larger training areas in the village. This was something usually reserved for the years above but Itona Sensei said that they should get a bit of experience in before the next year.

Once at the desired destination the activity was explained and turned out to be quite simple. It was a survival exercise where the students had to organise their own alliances and strategies while the game was in progress. You were out if you got any paint on you and this paint would come from the fake kunai given to every student. This was not only to determine individual survival skills but also the ability to work with each other and who worked well with whom. The information that Itona collected from this activity would help go towards the potential squads in the future, even if this future was still a few years away as other class activities could be organised to place certain students with each other to strengthen this bond. It wasn't always done this way but if it became difficult to separate and decide who had the marks to balance out a team then this knowledge would allow the best teams to be formed with the most collaborative potential.

It didn't take long for the game to get underway and most of the quickly formed alliances were extremely easy to guess. A few teams made up from clan kids separated into popular and loser with the same structure going into the few civilian teams and Kasumi quickly leaving the clearing to find cover in the surrounding bush, which was still within the perimeter set out for the activity, so as to avoid the almost inevitable status of first casualty. Kasumi had a lot of experience in the art of hiding-from-someone-who-wanted-to-hurt-or-annoy-you when it came to avoiding Ino and so was able to keep clear of the initial fight that occurred in the clearing. It got a bit trickier when her classmates started to realise that it would be better to fight in the density of the surrounding trees and bushes then in the open which is when Kasumi had to be extra conscious of her back.

Kasumi was just going from hiding place to hiding place so as to avoid any further hate being directed at her. If she decided to get involved and got someone out then they would have a personal reason to hate her instead of just the stupid superstition and follow-the-leader. Kasumi was darting from tree to tree in order to get away from the clashing of two clan based groups when she stumbled upon another concentrated area of conflict. One of the civilian groups had been reduced to only two boys and had been hunted down and cornered by the clan team who considered themselves to be the 'cool' kids in the class. Nothing good was going to come from a group of six ganging up on a weaker group of two. It seemed that a few of the children in this particular village loved the idea of being sadistic and tormenting their powerless peers. Unfortunately this rule encompassed the members in the group of six. Instead of just hitting their two frightened opponents with the kunais they kept scaring them and causing them to fall over or drop their own kunais out of trembling hands. All of this was done simply to allow the clan kids to have an opportunity to laugh and taunt the apparently inferior civilian raised students. Kasumi could sometimes be considered to have as much intellectual potential as a Nara but this would be an example of a situation in the contrary to that.

When the laughter rose and the tears started falling Kasumi jumped in to stop it, literally, but not before throwing one of her kunais to hit the 'leader' of the bullies in the chest. Kasumi had another kunai with her and with her speed and advantage of surprise she was able to quickly take out another boy and a girl by slashing paint across their chests. With half of the group 'down' she then put herself between the victims and remaining aggressors, daring them to face her with the now even odds. What she didn't plan on was the 'zombie' actions of the ones she had just taken out of the game. Once someone was out they were not allowed to play the game anymore and had to sit out, these kids obviously didn't want to play by these rules but not all of them were of the same opinion.

"Hey! Takeshi! What are you doing?! Taichi! Suzu!"

One of the smaller boys from the large group had stepped forward and questioned his leader and teammates when he realised that they had no intention of backing down and if anything had become more infuriated at the intrusion of Kasumi.

"Come on Daiki! Don't be a baby! We are a pack and as the leader you have to listen to me and we have to defend those that wrong us. Isn't that what Inuzukas do?"

The one who had stepped forward and had been referred to as Daiki looked down in shame at the mention of his clan and some of the values they stood for and would uphold with their own life. The one called Takeshi knew the power he held over the other clan kid and was about to go further when he received a hard kick to his back followed closely by his two friends receiving a similar fate. Kasumi had delivered the first blow but it seemed that with the extra support the two civilian raised kids got the courage to take down Takeshi's two sidekicks by themselves. With half of the group on the floor again Daiki only raised his head but his two remaining comrades decided to allow their anger to control them and charged forward. With this forward assault the two civilian kids got intimidated as they had lost their kunais towards the end of the taunt by this same group and so Kasumi had to face them on her own, two to one with only a single kunai herself.

The clearing the stood in was very small and was quite crowded with the nine children gathered beneath the light. Even with two hiding on the outskirts and another three currently kissing the ground it was still going to be difficult to manoeuvre. First of all Kasumi had to make sure not to let the two aggressors escape into the trees or she would lose them and the density of the forest would also mean that they would be able to easily sneak up behind her and the two civilian kids. Secondly she had to make sure that those already taken out stayed down.

Let the battle begin.

As the two clan kids, both brown haired boys, closed the distance between themselves and the lone Yamanaka she finished mentally finalising her battle plan and began. The assailant to her right was promptly thrown on top of his two fallen comrades as they tried to stand back up again. This quick movement made the last boy hesitate which gave another opportunity for Kasumi to strike. With the paint-covered wooden kunai Kasumi stuck his wrist which held his own weapon before twisting to kick the girl on the floor in the head so that she couldn't cause any more trouble. Now behind the last standing opponent Kasumi had clear shots of his back and so with quick punches to his lower back and a jab at the back of his knee caused yet another one to meet the forest floor. By this time the other three had gotten themselves up and ready for the fight and in doing so had scared one of the civilian raised kids away which caused another problem for Kasumi in terms of trying to protect him from these bullies as him fleeing may cause some of the bullies to pursue him. The Inuzuka still stood to the side and seemed conflicted by his own emotions and his clan's dedication to the pack and loyalty. For the moment he could still be ignored but must be kept an eye on.

Kasumi was starting to tire at this point and still had three opponents that needed to be immobilised before they could hurt anyone else. The main problem was going to be the leader. Takeshi obviously had skill if he was able to intimidate his peers into obeying him. Kasumi was confident that in a one-on-one fight, even in her current condition, she could win but with his two sidekicks it would be a near impossible challenge. That wouldn't stop her.

As predicted, Takeshi made his two colleagues go first and as Kasumi engaged with them he positioned himself behind the struggling Yamanaka. All Kasumi could do was block half their punches and grimace through the others. She also knew that allowing her opponent to have a clear shot of her back was extremely dangerous and would be fatal once she became a shinobi but right now there was nothing she could do.

So someone else did something for her.

The last member of the civilian group had toughed it out this far and was finally able to overcome his fear. This last boy had grown to be very wary of clan born kids and had heard the rumours circulating around the Academy about this particular Yamanaka girl. But she had stayed to help him while all of his friends since childhood had ran away this reserved and excluded girl had been prepared to take on all of the bullies by herself for people who were just as much bullies themselves when it came to her personally.

The boy took advantage of his position because as Takeshi moved behind Kasumi's back he turned his on the presumably non-threatening civilian. Said boy did something he had never been able to complete before, even in class, an unbreakable choke-hold on someone who was bigger and stronger than himself. He was never going to doubt Itona Sensei again.

Kasumi threw her final kunai but missed both of the assailants that continued charging towards her. They grew large, evil smiles upon their faces and continued stalking forward, until they both received kunais pressed against their throats. Daiki had taken a side and was no longer standing with his head down, lost. He had decided on a real pack and silently pledged his allegiance to a real alpha. With that strong resolution resounding in his head Daiki took the final step in knocking out his former pack.

After this the three children stood in the small clearing staring at each other. No one made a sound or moved a muscle.


	9. 8 - Promises

Just as quickly as the Yamanaka girl had appeared to save the civilian children she also disappeared. Daiki was left alone with one of the boys he had been previously tormenting as well as the unconscious bodies of his former friends. As soon as the threats had been temporarily neutralised she turned to Daiki, turned to the civilian boy, than ran off into the forest. She was almost as strange as the rumours speculated, but in a completely different way.

Daiki slowly approached the only other conscious person in the clearing, gauging his reactions to the advancement. Once reaching a close but respectful distance from the frightened boy, Daiki began a plan.

"I'm Daiki,"

The civilian born boy's back foot inched backwards buy Daiki didn't approach any further.

"Do you know that Yamanaka girl?"

The boy relaxed almost unnoticeably but clearly became confused and thoughtful.

"…no…not really…you?"  
"Same. I just know she is a girl from our class that moved from the class below a couple of weeks ago. Quiet. Loner. Nothing else really,"

"…clan kid,"

"What?"

"She's a clan kid…like you…but Yamanaka,"

In this brief conversation Daiki realised that the little bit that he knew about the girl was still more than his non-existent knowledge of the boy standing in front of him. Things might be worth another shot.

"Daiki Inuzuka,"

"…I know…"

The silence drew on and set Daiki's instincts on edge but he held his impulses together.

"Well…What about you?"

"…Civilian,"

This was getting exhausting.

"Yeah, okay…How about just a first name then?"

"… … …Tatsuya…"

It was a start.

The dullest conversation ever was interrupted by a collective groan from the bullies currently face-first on the ground. A shared glance was all that was required before Daiki and Tatsuya ran off in the same direction as their strange saviour.

* * *

Kasumi hardly thought back to that clearing during the break. She only did what was right but was afraid that beating up clan born children could result in clan troubles. For the moment Kasumi just wanted to enjoy the inevitably short time in which her family, mainly parents, would accept her before something occurred to drive them apart again.

Just as Inoichi and Airi had promised their youngest daughter they both rewarded her promotion within the Academy in their own way. During the brief break from the Academy that the students received at the end of the year Kasumi continuously visited the family flower shop as well as catch-ups with the Akimichis and Naras. Even Ino's tricks and troublemaking didn't get her twin into as much trouble as usual. However, it was all just an illusion. The warm sun before the eternal storm.

* * *

The initial clue that things had truly changed for the better was the first time Airi took Kasumi to the Yamanaka flower shop, without Ino even! Kasumi had been there on a couple of occasions but it had been a couple of years since she had done more than walk through the front door and said hello, today she would get to work there and actually have a bit of fun. Something extremely rare nowadays.

The day started off with a family breakfast, something else that was considered rare as well with either Kasumi in her room or Inoichi at work, and during the period of silence that signalled everyone enjoying and devouring their food Airi decided to break it in order to avoid breaking her promise.

"Kasumi dear,"

This got the sudden attention of the rest of the family present at the table with food halfway to mouths and said mouths hanging open. It wasn't until Airi cleared her throat that everyone returned from their temporary frozen state. It also earnt a quick almost frightened response from said child.

"Yes!"

This got gentle smiles from the parents and an uncertain frown from the sister beside her.

"Would you like to come with me to the shop today?"

"YES!"

Both girls ended up out of their seats at this, one from excitement the other from fright. It was extremely unusual for Kasumi to be this loud and at this realisation Inoichi erupted in joyous and jubilant laughter. Airi herself smiled as well before accepting the decision with a nod. Afterwards it only took seconds for Kasumi to finish off her breakfast meal before racing down the hallway to her room to begin preparing for the hopefully fun and enjoyable day ahead.

* * *

Airi and Kasumi made their way through the streets of Konoha that bustled with life. Multiple people stopped to talk to the Yamanaka pair but they were still able to make it to the store before opening time. Kasumi loved the sight and smell that assaulted her senses when she entered that shop. Even though the flowers hadn't been arranged for display they still provided a sea of colour and the smell was an indescribably delightful mix of all the different aromas of the variety of flora species present in the confined space. The small brunette Yamanaka stood in the middle of the room with her eyes closed and allowed the calming scent of the flowers to surround her and take over her mind. Kasumi remained a statue for several minutes as her mother went to the back of the store to retrieve a couple more flowers that had been ordered the day before.

"Kasumi,"

Broken out of her reverie, Kasumi turned to her mother with a small smile on her face. The full attention of Kasumi allowed Airi to continue.

"Would you like to organise the displays at the front of the store or by the windows?"

"Can I work with the orchids and tulips?"

Airi did a short, soft and sad laugh at this before approaching Kasumi, closing the rest of the distance between them and placing her hands gently on her youngest daughter's shoulders.

"I forgot those are your favourite…"

Airi could no longer look her daughter in the eye and found the floor momentarily of great and sad interest. It took a few more seconds for Airi to continue after spending the brief time in deep contemplation about the young girl before her.

"I think they would look really beautiful by the window!"

This smile was a lot more genuine and sweet and replicated in kind by Kasumi. Once Airi removed her hands from Kasumi's shoulders the two brunette Yamanakas got to work setting up the floral displays for when customers arrived. Kasumi was given free range to work with whatever flowers she wanted for her floral arrangements and Airi would come over periodically to praise Kasumi on her work. It unnerved Kasumi at first but after a while she came to appreciate this affectionate attention that she could only ever remember being directed at Ino. After a while Airi went out to the back to work on different orders, specifically those placed by the shinobi of the village concerning herbal poisons and remedies, and in her absence Kasumi was placed in charge of the counter. There was a steady stream of customers who all made comments and conversation regarding Kasumi's role and age. Everyone was extremely pleasant and it gave Kasumi an opportunity to test her floral knowledge. She even memorised all of the orders, shinobi and floral, so that when the customers came in she knew exactly where the order was which earnt her even more praise and compliments.

Besides the occasional journey to the back of the shop to see her mother and get certain orders this carried on for most of the day with a brief break for lunch. During this time Airi came out and brought the home made lunches with her. Between the few customers trickling in the two female Yamanakas enjoyed their lunch with a bit of light conversation based around this new situation experienced by both of them.

"You've been doing a very good job with the shop,"

"Thanks mum!"

"Maybe next year you might be able to work out back on the poisons and remedies. Since you have advanced in the Academy I don't think anyone in the clan will mind especially with you impressing that clan elder at you and Ino's birthday party a while back,"

"Yes please! That would be so much fun!"

"It's so good to see you this happy again…it has been too long…"

"Now is a gift, that's why it's called the present. I'm just happy because of what is happening now, I don't want to worry about the past,"

"I've always admired your maturity. It complements Ino very well,"

This final mention of Ino is what ended the lunchtime conversation which had taken a turn for the worse towards the end. The rest of the lunch was eaten quickly and quietly before Airi returned to the room at the back of the store and Kasumi checked the displays.

It was a couple of hours and Airi hadn't emerged from the back room while Kasumi continued serving the customers who wandered in to inspect the floral displays or pick up orders. Kasumi was able to recognise certain features of some of the people that came in that distinguished what clan they were from and this is what happened at the end of those couple of people entered the flower shop, a man, a woman holding a small child and a young girl around the same age as Kasumi. All four members of this family had the same features that distinguished them as members of the prestigious Hyuga clan with their light, pupil-less, lavender eyes. The man seemed very stern, the woman gentle and the young girl was hiding behind both her parents.

"Hello! Welcome to the Yamanaka Flower Shop!"

"Hello dear,"

The woman smiled kindly at Kasumi while her partner diverted his attention to some of the displays.

"We came for an order,"

The man made Kasumi jump at his sudden statement but she masked her surprise quickly with a smile because she had already memorised all of the orders.

"Is it the order for the water hemlock and white snakeroot poisons?"

This question earnt a head turn from the Hyuga male who was surprised by the knowledge, or at least the memory, of this young girl who also appeared to be running the store by herself. After a little bit of thought on his part the tall, dark haired Hyuga answered.

"Yes and I would also like to place an order for some remedies,"

Kasumi didn't have to take time to contemplate the information and form her answer like the Hyuga did.

"Okay. I will just quickly get your vials and then I can take down your next order,"

With that Kasumi jumped off her step that she had behind the counter and went to one of the bookshelves along the back wall of the shop. Some of the bookshelves had books and scrolls on numerous flora descriptions along with boxes containing orders and other concoctions. It was one of these boxes that Kasumi went to that was located on one of the lower shelves, after being moved by Kasumi earlier during the day, and she took out two small jars.

Hiashi Hyuga was the head of the Hyuga clan and he watched the young girl in front of him with curiosity. This girl was surprisingly professional for a child of her age. It started him wondering about how he could get his own shy and quiet daughter to grow and have this much potential. Hiashi didn't have very long to contemplate this either as the Yamanaka girl placed his order on the countertop and retrieved a notepad and pen to write down the order he requested earlier.

"The vial with the green line around the rim is the snakeroot and the blue line is the water hemlock. What would be your next order?"

"I would like some remedies this time. A calendula salve and a thuja leaf salve,"

"Of course. It is a very common combination being a wound healer and an infection fighter. This order should get done quite quickly so I would expect it to be done by the end of the week. If you would like me to, I will go out the back and ask my mum when she thinks it will be finished,"

"No. That's alright,"

Instead of taking the vials off the counter, Hiashi spoke to his eldest daughter who was sheltering behind the legs of her mother.

"Hinata,"

The small dark blue haired girl became startled at her father's sudden attention and made a hasty reply.

"Yes,"

Still not facing his child Hiashi continued at the acknowledgement to proceed, however unnecessary.

"What flowers would you like?"

"U-u-u-um…"

"Stop stammering Hinata,"

"Yes…um… …,"

Hinata mumbled something at the end but it was inaudible to everyone else in the shop.

"Hinata,"

"I don't know what flowers…"

In order to save the girl who was about to get another scolding from her father Kasumi jumped off her step and moved to the front of the counter to be in front of the girl. Even though they were the same age Kasumi couldn't help but thinking how different they were. Kasumi recognised the young Hyuga from her class from the year before. They hadn't spoken at all but that doesn't mean that Kasumi was about to let her be told off by her stern father.

"What is your favourite colour?"

Hinata seemed surprise by the question but after a little bit of stammering she was finally able to answer.

"Blue…"

"Well, I know there are some blue irises and orchids and I think we have some morning glories but they are more of a purple-blue. Would you like to have a look at them and then decide?"

Hinata emerged slightly from behind her mother to get a better look at the girl who was being so nice to her. Then upon remembering the rumours she heard about the brunette Yamanaka who was in her class last year Hinata returned to her pervious cowering position. Kasumi noticed the frightened look as she still experienced it now so instead of taking offense she decided to turn Hinata's opinion of her. So the young Yamanaka walked over to one of the pots on a bench in the middle of the shelf that contained individual flowers of all types. With one of each of the blue flowers in hand, Kasumi approached Hinata again and offered her the flowers.

"Which one do you like?"

Hinata looked like she was about to pass out from the mix of being shy, scared and surprised all at once. If it wasn't for the death clutch the young Hyuga had on her mother she probably would have fallen over but with a throat clearing from the Hyuga clan head Hinata finally forced herself to respond.

"I-I-I like th-the th-the … th-th-that one,"

Kasumi handed Hinata the iris with a gentle and genuine smile on her face which grew when the blue haired girl accepted the offering and emerged completely from behind her mother. This gesture from both young girls caused the Hyuga woman to smile fondly and her husband to look on approvingly with less steel in his eyes.

The encounter ended with the Hyugas taking their vials and a bouquet of blue irises. Hinata left the shop next to her parents instead of behind them and even gave Kasumi a brief wave upon leaving. Kasumi gained a friend and the rare approval of the Hyuga clan head.

* * *

A couple of days after the success of the flower shop Inoichi gave Kasumi her present from him for her schooling success in the form of a meeting, or 'play date', with Shikamaru and Choji. This time the three families were meeting at the Yamanaka residence with both Shikaku and Chouza bringing their wives along as well. Yoshino Nara, Amaya Akimichi and Airi Yamanaka had all become close friends over the years due to the closeness of their husbands.

Mid-morning was the designated arrival time and surprisingly all were on time, including the Naras probably thanks to Yoshino. What was even more shocking was the fact that Shikamaru actually seemed excited to be there and wasn't directly rude to Ino upon encounter. This took place outside on the back patio of the Yamanaka clan head household where the fathers and children gathered together while the mothers stayed inside to discuss their own topics. The three men sat around a small table with refreshments and shogi. The four children sat and laid on the grass a few metres away. Obviously Shikamaru was the only one laying down but at least he had the decency to keep his eyes open. Choji and Kasumi sat on either side of Shikamaru in silence while Ino was directly across from the lazy Nara. While her twin was silent Ino never really understood the concept, instead she did her usual nonsense rants but his time got no sarcastic remarks from either boy present just simple responses of agreeance when it seemed appropriate.

"…and then Rika and Sumiko got into a fight and pulled each other's hair and Rika said Sumiko had bad taste in clothes and then Sumiko said Rika was ugly and now they're not friends and now Rika is friends with Chika and now Sumiko is friends with Yuka but Chika and Yuka were friends but now they're fighting now and now they're not talking so I had to sit next to them in class but now they sit somewhere else and now I sit next to Akira and Momoe and … guess what!"

By the point that Ino finally stopped her rant about what happened during the last week of the Academy the other three children in her presence had begun their own conversation which stopped abruptly at the sudden turn of Ino's attention. There was a brief pause where Shikamaru and Kasumi had a staring contest to determine who had to entertain Ino's one-sided conversation and Choji opened up a packet of chips to watch the entertaining scene. Kasumi finally gave in when she realised that if she let Shikamaru answer then it would probably lead to a sarcasm fuelled fight with Ino.

"What is it Ino? You sound excited,"

"Yes! In my new seat I'm sitting right behind Sasuke! I got to stare at him for the whole last week of the Academy! He is sooooo handsome!"

Ino finished her Sasuke rant with a high pitched squeal which caused Shikamaru to bolt upright into a sitting position and almost ended up sitting on top of Choji as well. In order to quickly stop Shikamaru's anger Kasumi moved to sit between him and her twin and continued the conversation with Ino hoping Shikamaru would stay quiet for now.

"Maybe if you're lucky you might get the same seat for the next Academy year,"

"YES! That would be amazing!"

It ended with Ino giving Kasumi a bone-crushing hug before running off with an over the shoulder exclamation about returning with some lemonade. At this Kasumi turned around to notice that both boys had gotten to their feet and with a packet of chips in one hand Choji offered the other one to Kasumi so that all three of them were standing and making their way over to where three clan heads were gathered.

It turned out that Inoichi, Shikaku and Chouza had stopped their game of shogi, where both Inoichi and Chouza were getting beaten by Shikaku , to watch the children interact and as usual found it very entertaining. Each child sat with their respective father and the game continued with Kasumi, Shikamaru and Choji having their own conversation without being interrupted by Ino. Surprisingly  
Choji started the talking because it meant that he had to stop eating his packet of chips and it was still half full.

"How has the new class been?"

"It isn't that much different from the class with you guys,"

"Do you have any friends in that class?"

"No… if anything I made a few enemies on the last day of the Academy,"

This received stares from everyone present and prompted the lone female to continue.

"We did a little survival exercise and I don't know if the people I got out will be mad at me or not. I hope that by the time the Academy starts again they would have forgotten about it,"

It wasn't a lie. It just didn't mention anything about the other kids being clan kids and the fact that Kasumi sort of actually started the fight. So long as everyone present was smart enough to not take it any further it could continue as a vague half-truth. Inoichi was at least able to keep the conversation going without poking holes in his daughter's previous statement.

"What was the survival exercise like? Did you make it to the end?"

Kasumi was currently sitting on her father's lap and tilted her head backwards to look at his face when she replied with a cheeky grin.

"I made it to the end…aaaand…I was the first one to make it there…aaaand…I did it all by myself!"

"Why?"

Shikamaru's question surprised Kasumi and the confident grin aimed at her father turned into a rare shocked expression.

"Why what?"

"Why did you do it by yourself?"

The underling question was then realised by the young girl and not greatly appreciated. The sudden concern directed at her caused the young Yamanaka to become closed up and slightly hostile. However given the circumstance she tried to not outwardly display this too much.

"I wanted to challenge myself! It paid off too!"

The smile returned and fooled only the other children present. Inoichi felt his daughter's entire body tense up minutely and the other clan heads noticed her discreetly forced expression of happiness. Shikamaru and Choji thankfully remained ignorant. The only thing that Shikamaru knew in that moment was how she dodged his real question but decided to respect her wishes of continuing the interrogation of a conversation later.

Time continued to pass gradually with idle discussion until Ino returned with the promised drinks. What came next surprised everyone else because Ino invited Kasumi to come back with her and join the mothers and their conversation inside. What was more unusual than Ino asking Kasumi to join her was the fact that the blonde actually thought that her twin would enjoy talking about topics such as her future as eventual wife and mother in what would be forever which was apparently a favourite topic of the mothers at the moment. It proved to the others that the distance between the two Yamanaka girls had truly grown to a devastating length but the pair in question were still able to outwardly display some degree of affection towards each other. Kasumi graciously declined the offer and so the group went back to its satisfactory six and so casual conversation concerning shogi, work and the children. Two topics were very interesting to the brunette the other was considered extremely tedious. It was after such an unpleasant part of the conversation that Shikamaru decided to step in and save Kasumi from further discomfort. After prying themselves reluctantly away from the comfortable position each one had on their respective father's lap, Kasumi, Shikamaru and Choji headed towards one of the many clearings that are dotted within the Yamanaka clan compound.

"No Shikamaru,"

Said boy seemed unsurprised by this sudden calm outburst while the accompanying Akimichi turned his head between the boy and the girl that walked on either side of him. Choji was trying to figure out what was going on before settling on staring at the Nara and waiting patiently for an eventual answer from his best friend. Shikamaru had decided to be as stubborn as both Yamanaka girls he knew and refused to say anything, instead he positioned himself snugly at the base of a tree at the edge of a clearing that the small group now found themselves residing in. His hope of getting Kasumi to become irritated was dashed when she too sat silently at the base of the same tree close enough to him to rest her head on his shoulder while she patiently continued to wait. Her only other motion was towards Choji and was an invitation for the Akimichi to come join Nara-Yamanaka duo instead of standing in the clearing with his continued lost expression on his face. With Choji now on her other side, Kasumi changed whose shoulder she rested on and was now able to look at Shikamaru. This new position enabled Kasumi and Shikamaru to have a staring competition where they tried to break each other into submission. It was all going well with the silence stretching on and on until Kasumi's concentration was destroyed good naturedly by Choji when he offered her a chip from his 100th new mysteriously appearing chip packet. The smirk of victory on Shikamaru's face swiftly vanished as it earnt him a solid kick to the leg by the now chip eating girl. This violent action prompted Shikamaru to continue the currently one sentence conversation his female attacker seemed to be declining.

"Kasumi?"

After a few breaths of silence Kasumi gave in and entertained the discussion, knowing it was one of inevitability.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Better me then the dads, right?"

"You didn't answer my question,"

"Neither did you,"

"Your question didn't need answering,"

"You think we won't like the answer?"

"There is no answer,"

"The answer is important to us,"

"Us?"

"Maybe not Ino but definitely myself, Choji and the dads,"

"I don't want my dad to know,"

Shikamaru took a few seconds to respond, knowing that the truth would hurt even if it is already obvious and known.

"…He probably already knows…"

"I know…There's nothing he can or will do about it and I don't need or want anyone's sympathy or pity,"

That last bit was aimed not very subtly at Shikamaru but failed to get him to drop the exchange, merely created a brief silence as he thought of how to form a response. Luckily he didn't have to.

"Hey, guys. What is this question?"

Choji eventually invaded the endless questions to ask one of his own and ultimately persuaded Kasumi to answer the mysterious question.

"He wants to know if there is another reason I did the survival exercise by myself,"

"There is another reason,"

Shikamaru seemed extremely confident with this statement and he finally achieved his previous goal of gaining irritation from his Yamanaka companion. She would have expressed this with great anger if it wasn't for another one of Choji's interruptions.

"And?"

This caused Kasumi to close her already open mouth and swallow her sour comment aimed at the Nara. Kasumi stayed quiet for a really long time. She still couldn't bring herself to answer. She felt that if it was said out loud then it would make it all real. She could at least pretend or forget it now but not once it was vocalised. She still wasn't ready for the truth that would follow this reality. She had received some help from Shikamaru throughout the morning but now it seemed it was him and his piercing gaze that she needed saving from. When she still refused to speak after the minutes stretched further Shikamaru took things into his own hands. His best friend was still in the dark and deserved answers and his other friend needed to hear the truth one way or another.

"She doesn't have any friends in her new class,"

This comment from Shikamaru silenced anything that Kasumi might have said to avoid this exact situation. Kasumi couldn't bring herself to look at either boy as she stood and left briskly. She could feel the attention burning a hole in her back and knew that her absence now left an empty space between the boys still sitting at the tree. Kasumi didn't regret this as she had to leave before that last comment could cause her to say some very nasty things to some of the only people who cared about her in some form or another.

The brown eyed Yamanaka girl found her way back to where the three fathers had started another Nara inevitable victory game of shogi after her head cleared a little. All the young girl did as she sat down again in her father's lap was hope that the three men now in her presence wouldn't start interrogating her as well. Luckily, being knowledgeable in intelligence gathering and reading body language, Inoichi, Shikaku and Chouza didn't pressure the youngest Yamanaka and instead started teaching her about the game after they had promised to do so about a year beforehand.

When Shikamaru and Choji returned after having their own conversation, Kasumi was skilled enough at the strategy game to be able to occasionally win against her father and Chouza. A few light comments regarding this and the 'pleasant' time in the clearing were exchanged to not create too much suspicion, unsuccessfully, about the sudden tension existing now between the children.

It was around lunch time an hour or so later that the catch-up came to an end and the two trios of the Naras and Akimichis left to get their own meal and complete any work required that afternoon for the men inparticular. But Shikamaru and Choji left wondering what they had said to upset Kasumi and Kasumi watched them go thinking of how she could possibly phrase what she thought on that moment and at the clearing.

She never had any friends in her old class either.


	10. 9 - Daiki and Tatsuya

It was a couple of days after the commencement of the new year at the Academy and Kasumi was noticing a few changes since the end of the year before. It was all very peculiar. Her fellow classmates were noticeably less hostile and mean towards her and she couldn't figure out why. Kasumi thought that Takeshi's group of bullies wouldn't say anything out of shame and she assumed that the civilian born students would remain quiet out of fear, of both her and the before mentioned bullies. Either way things had still changed. Either way Kasumi wanted to forget the events that had transpired in the clearing during the survival exercise. A few days later it became obvious that two particular boys were apparently unwilling to do the same. Said boys had developed an annoying habit in that first week of the Academy which included following the brunette Yamanaka around like lost puppies, which seemed immensely ironic considering one of the boys had a small puppy following him in the same fashion. The boys kept their distance but their constant presence was noticed by everyone. They had yet to actually approach Kasumi and talk to her and it was after another week had passed that Kasumi decided to take things into her own hands.

It was a day when Kasumi was later than usual to the Academy. She had stayed a bit at home to help her mother with a few flora problems and ideas but was still able to arrive to class before it started. Just enough time to sit in between her stalkers before Itona Sensei began his first lesson of the day. It was awkward the entire time until the first break but at least nothing had to be said for the two boys to follower her yet again as she went to sit at her usual tree. This would be the first time she had company. It would also be the first time she could deal with the unusual attention.

"Please sit,"

The blunt request was carried out almost immediately and so the party of three, four if the animal was included, sat together with a decent amount of distance between the males and the female who rested against the trunk of the tree. Silence was the only thing that grew to become greater than this respectful distance as the boys seemed unable to begin and Kasumi was more than willing to wait until they could explain themselves. It got to the point that Kasumi was wondering whether this conversation would even start before the break finished.

"Are you really a demon?"

The boy that had his hand resting on the head of the accompanying puppy finally spoke and in doing so earnt the coldest retort from the offended Yamanaka.

"Are you really stupid enough to believe everything you hear?"

The boy who spoke before bowed his head in shame and stared at the floor while his friend started to panic slightly and tripped over his words as he tried to explain himself and his companion.

"He didn't mean –You see-We wanted to know-We think that-We know your not-But the rumours are-We don't believe them-We just…Um… Do you remember us?"

"I've been trying to forget,"

Dog boy raised his head and opened his mouth before Kasumi's gaze fell to him and instead left the response to his friend again.

"Why?"

"Clan problems,"

"Excuse me?"

"Those kids that attacked you were all clan born kids and if they complain to their clan it could cause some tension. It's complicated but considering the 'rumour' surrounding me it could cause more trouble for me…just as things are starting to get better,"

The last bit was mumbled but still audible. Luckily neither boy approached that subject, at that moment anyway. This revelation still wasn't going to stop the determined boys.

"Thanks,"

This too was mumbled and came from dog boy who still stared at the ground.

"I expected that response from your friend,"

"You saved him from the bullies and you saved me from a bad pack,"

"I don't really get it to be honest but considering you're an Inuzuka I guess there's some significance so, you're welcome then,"

This unexpectedly understanding response startled the boy and drew his gaze once again to the Yamanaka who still had a stern expression but considerably less steel and hostility directed at the pair.

"I…I'm Daiki…and this is Tatsuya,"

Instead of being ashamed Daiki Inuzuka started acting a little uncertainly and merely tilted his head to his companion before resuming his previous position of being interested in the ground.

"And your ninken?"

"Uh…Katsu,"

"He wasn't with you in the clearing,"

"Yeah,"

It was now Kasumi's turn to feel bad as it became obvious this was an extremely sensitive topic. Daiki picked up his black and grey best friend and held him protectively to his chest.

"Yeah…I guess we all have troubles of one sort or another,"

With this Kasumi turned her attention to the boy, called Tatsuya, figuring that Daiki would be unresponsive until the bad thoughts left him from her earlier statement.

"So you're Tatsuya?"

"Yes. Tatsuya Shiota,"

"May I ask why you two have been following me? Or was it just to say thank you for the clearing?"

"Well...yeah, but…we want to be your friends as well,"

"Um…?"

"That's why Daiki asked his first question. We wanted to know if the rumours were true even though we had decided that they weren't,"

"That still doesn't explain why you want to be my friends,"

"Anyone who is brave enough to stand up for others when they receive no kindness from them can't be bad. No worse than the rest of the people in our class anyway,"

This response was by Daiki this time as he had set Katsu down in front of him but still kept a gentle hand on his back rubbing small circles in the short fur.

"I don't have the best experience when it comes to friends. They betray me as soon as something better comes along or when it is no longer convenient,"

"I'm an Inuzuka… I may have left Takeshi but he never earnt my loyalty to begin with. You earnt my loyalty as soon as you stood up for those civilian borns. If I need to prove it I will,"

"I'm with Daiki on this one. Before the two of you I never had any faith in the clan born kids in this class. You may be the only reason I can ever become a true ninja, I would have failed based on my unwillingness to work with them properly,"

Kasumi just stared at Daiki and Tatsuya and couldn't believe that she was actually considering this. She didn't know if she would be able to handle another betrayal and truly believed that that was an inevitable occurrence. Either way she still sat there and contemplated what they had said while getting a good look at them for the first time.

Daiki Inuzuka looked like every other member of his clan that Kasumi had ever seen, from his feral and scruffy general appearance to the distinctive red fang markings on his cheeks. The only thing that every changed between members of this clan was hair and eye colour and even that was only on occasion. Most members tended to have brown hair and dark eyes, either brown or black. Maybe Daiki's not so common appearance in this regard, with his short, raggy black hair and dark green eyes, was a sign that he wouldn't act like everyone else as well and could have the potential to be trusted. Kasumi would believe it when she witnessed it herself.

Daiki's canine companion, Katsu, had a similar appearance to his human partner. His short fur was mostly black and ruffled everywhere. His right ear, two front legs and tip of his tail were a light grey. Once Kasumi saw the small creature following the Inuzuka she noticed that he never strayed more than a metre away. She did not question the two-way loyalty that existed between this pair but she did wonder why it was only now that the puppy appeared because all the other Inuzuka had ninken when they started the Academy.

Tatsuya Shiota had a different appearance yet again but where Daiki had clearly been raised to fight Tatsuya had a small and lanky figure. His face was covered in freckles, he had light brown eyes and his long, light orange hair was tied neatly in a ponytail.

The two boys seemed an unlikely pair which only continued to break down Kasumi's resolve because if these two could come together for a single reason then it must be of some importance. Kasumi had a decision but somewhere inside of her felt uneasy about it. Luckily for her, there wasn't time to say the verdict out loud as the break from class ended. It didn't matter much. Kasumi had resided herself to keep an eye on the two before she jumped into this potentially harmful friendship.

* * *

After the break the class went from theory to practical and gathered at the small training field that was adjacent to the significant and recognisable education building. Usually it was only hand-to-hand combat and wooden weapons that was practised, focusing mainly on technique and form instead of application, but with the new year the class was now going to be progressing on to one-on-one combat and real, but blunt, weapons. The first couple of weeks didn't include these yet as Itona Sensei wanted to double check that everyone's technique was at a high enough standard to progress to this next stage, in case some students had slacked off over the brief break. Today was the time for this advancement.

Itona Sensei gave a short speech to the class about the importance of this next step in the lesson and the improved diligence to safety that must be maintained. Very few were paying attention to this, only because everyone didn't know that there would be a theoretical test at the end of the week on these safety measures, and instead were discussing how cool they were all going to be with their fighting skills. It wasn't until they were instructed to get into pairs that this attention went from zero to maximum. As always there was a flurry of excitement as everyone ran around finding their friend groups and organising whose turn it was to go with whom. There were 21 students in the class, which meant it was possible to do groups of three but someone was left out when grouped into pairs. This role usually fell to Kasumi. Not that she minded. It meant that she could practise without distractions. However Daiki and Tatsuya had a different plan in mind and apparently were being serious when they said that they wanted to be Kasumi's friend and were willing to prove it. Tatsuya came to stand next to the Yamanaka girl while Daiki approached Itona Sensei to announce that he would be practising with Katsu instead of another student. If Itona Sensei found this strange he didn't react or say anything to indicate it so the lesson continued as planned.

First was the practise with the metal kunai and shuriken. It didn't take Kasumi long to figure out why Tatsuya had been a target for those bullies. Even for a civilian born student Tatsuya's skills were very lacking and it must have been nothing but luck that allowed him to advance this far. Kasumi even had to wonder whether he had been kept down a year or not.

"Tatsuya?"

This startled the boy and caused his aim to become even worse than normal, missing the target all together instead of just hitting the edge. The two hadn't said anything the entire lesson. Kasumi was observing and thinking while Tatsuya kept silent for not wanting to frighten her away.

"Yes?!"

"That was a little loud,"

"Yes. Yes, sorry…Did you have a question?"

"How often do you practise?"

"Well, um…,"

"You need to widen your stance more. Push your front foot forward a bit more and draw your arm back further when you throw,"

"Oh, okay…thanks,"

With that the pair went back to the awkward silence as they both observed each other. The target practise went on for about half an hour before the class went on to the physical combat. This would turn out to be an even more interesting half an hour. As this next part required teams which meant that two pairs would come together and fight two-on-two. This would be a new experience for everyone as the closest they had ever gotten to this was the survival exercise at the end of the previous year. Itona Sensei thought this would be a way to both work on hand-to-hand combat and improve teamwork. It would also give the man an opportunity to see how well some certain students could work together. Unsurprisingly this included Daiki and Katsu joining Tatsuya and Kasumi. How interesting.

* * *

"Tatsuya you need to pay attention to your guard, you keep leaving yourself open,"

"Okay, yes! Thanks Kasumi,"

"Duck!"

Tatsuya couldn't guard but could react, which is the only reason he still had his head after narrowly avoiding Kasumi's high sweeping kick which caught Daiki in the shoulder and sent him sideways to the dirt floor.

"Come on! Can't I land one hit on you?!"

"You need to focus Daiki. Trust Katsu to take care of himself or work together better,"

"What kind of advice is that?!"

"Useful,"

Before Daiki could retort Tatsuya decided to step in, knowing this could get sensitive for Daiki and Kasumi was only trying to help. Tatsuya and Daiki had spent the Academy break together trying to think of how to befriend their Yamanaka saviour and had become quite close themselves in the process. This meant that Tatsuya knew about everything going on with Katsu.

"Come on guys. Let's go another round but maybe this time Katsu can rest and it can be Daiki and I against Kasumi?"

Unfortunately Itona Sensei was standing behind him at this precise moment and was not pleased with this idea.

"Not today Shiota. Today is about teamwork so everyone has to be on a team,"

Said civilian born may have had a witty response to this if he hadn't been scared speechless by the sudden appearance of their sensei. Luckily Kasumi was warming up to her two fellow students and decided to bail them out this time.

"What if I team up with Katsu?"

"Why would you do that Yamanaka?"

"As a ninja there is a good chance that at some point I will be fighting alongside an Inuzuka which means that I will have to learn to fight alongside their ninken as well. This seems like the perfect opportunity to practise instead of being put on the spot in the field,"

With no reasonable argument against this, Itona Sensei merely nodded his head before moving on to inspect how the other groups were going. Then Daiki had to mention his obvious issue with the idea.

"Are you asking me to hurt Katsu?!"

"No,"

"Then how am I supposed to fight the both of you?!"

"I thought the two of you wanted to fight me? We can just say that Katsu is resting and then when he joins in it can be a sort of protection fight, where my goal is to make sure nothing happens to him,"

"Oh…Yeah, I guess that could work,"

"Then let's start. You in, Tatsuya?"

"Yep,"

The rest of the lesson was taken up with Daiki and Tatsuya trying to beat Kasumi. They almost succeeded towards the end when Katsu got involved. After that near miss they were all relieved when the class finished. At least the class hadn't all been for nothing. Daiki had learnt to avoid Kasumi's kicks and Tatsuya had been able to keep his guard up for the whole of the last battle. Kasumi grew during this time as well. As she predicted she learnt to work around the small dog but, as the boys had hoped, she also became more comfortable around the pair. All in all, the lesson accomplished many things and was the beginning of much, much more. Both good and bad.

* * *

The next month of the Academy followed in a similar fashion. The three children and one ninken would spend their breaks together at the tree and would stick together during the lessons. This meant sitting next to each other during classes and taking turns to go in pairs for certain lessons. Kasumi honestly still didn't know what all this meant or how she felt about it. She couldn't tell whether it was all an act on their part and that around every corner there might be the punch-line with her as the joke. As time went on she started to care less and less about this possibility as her family life was the first thing to take a turn for the worst. Time merely allowed her family to forget her accomplishment at the Academy and with Ino envious of Kasumi getting extra attention she accelerated this inevitability with her lies and deceit. Ino had once again cut her hair short and blamed it on her twin, which reignited the spark of the argument that Kasumi was some demon whose sole purpose is to destroy the clan and all of its traditions. Considering their mother was making the whole long hair tradition a major priority Kasumi didn't even dare mention the fact that she wanted to cut her own hair. No matter how annoying her long hair was, Kasumi wasn't prepared to face her mother's wrath if she cut it to a more convenient length. After the break she had caught up with Shikamaru and Choji on two other occasions before the tension grew within the family and she was no longer allowed to participate in these any more. A similar situation would have occurred at the flower shop if some of the customers hadn't started inquiring about where the brown haired Yamanaka child when her mother initially put the ban in place. The briefness of this particular ban was the only ray of sunshine in this familiar situation.

It was the flower shop that kept Kasumi sane at this time, between the partial harassment from Daiki and Tatsuya and the 180 reversal by her family once again. The elder from the twins' birthday party a couple of years prior, back when the family tension first erupted between Kasumi and her parents and sister, became a constant figure in Kasumi's life with the child's increased and unrestricted presence at the family business. Yamanaka Elder Runa took over from Airi sometimes when it came to creating the ninja orders and after a single passive aggressive encounter between the two Yamanaka women it was agreed upon that Kasumi was allowed at the store anytime she wanted. It was during these weeks that Kasumi came to live at the Yamanaka Flower Shop when not at the Academy. She would sit at the counter and do her homework when not serving customers or talking to Elder Runa. These conversations would often be the best part of the young Yamanaka's day as it was the only time she had a female mentoring and caring about her and teaching her more and more about flowers and both their healing and fatal properties.

As time went on Daiki and Tatsuya became more courageous and began following Kasumi after the Academy finished for the day. They never went inside the flower shop but each day they would trail behind at a smaller and smaller distance. Eventually they would walk with her and that day had finally arrived.

"Kasumi!"

"Woof!"

Daiki and Katsu came up to Kasumi as she was about to exit the classroom after the end of another day at the Academy, Tatsuya joined them shortly afterwards.

"Yeah?"

"You heading to the flower shop again?"

"Yes and you already knew that,"

This embarrassed both boys with Daiki rubbing the back of his head and Tatsuya not very casually looking at his feet.

"I promised Elder Runa that I would go there straight after class to help with the chrysanthemums and display the primroses,"

With that she turned her back on the boys and finished walking out the door.

"You coming?"

It seemed that the boys needed another invitation to follow the brunette.

The walk began in silence with Katsu being quite cheeky and weaving his way in between Kasumi's feet as she made her way once again to her favourite place in the world. The small smile that made its way onto her face at Katsu's antics encouraged the two boys to start another friendship focused conversation with the seemingly calm Yamanaka.

"Kasumi?"

"Tatsuya,"

"How confident are you for the test tomorrow?"

"Yeah, if you want you can come over to my place later. Tatsuya and I are having another practice session before tomorrow if you want to join,"

"I can already do four clones comfortably. One shouldn't be a problem tomorrow,"

"Come on Kasumi. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt you to come join us once in a while,"

"Yeah. Every time we invite you to do something you always say no. If you don't want to come to my clan's compound the Shiotas said we could go over there if we want, we just go to my place because it has a bigger yard,"

"My parents have been asking to meet you. They could hardly believe I made one clan friend, yet alone two,"

This last harmless comment was what set Kasumi off. The continual pestering about friendship and eternal, unbreakable promises had finally broken the Yamanaka as, whether poorly concealed or blatantly spoken, this was the topic of most conversations the three participated in. Kasumi could not take any more and so rounded on her two male companions to finally vent what had been kept hidden her whole life.

"Will you two stop?! Why am I supposed to believe anything you say?! Do you think that we will become friends just because you tell me all of your secrets and sob stories?! Poor sob story this and poor sob story that! My whole life has been nothing but a depressing disaster! You think it's bad being a civilian born or not having a strong ninken?! Well at least your families love you! Try being the second favourite twin who is blamed for every single bad thing that happens and only got the approval of her family because she did well at the Academy! Of course that affection only lasted until my precious, perfect sister wrecks everything and pins it all on me with our oh so perceptive parents believing and trusting every word that comes out of her mouth! You know I use to have friends as well until that rumour about being some demon possessed walking disaster drove them away! Last time I checked that wasn't what friends were supposed to do! So, once again, why am I supposed to believe that you two will be any different?! Just be grateful for what you have and stop bothering me with your pathetic whining!"

Luckily Kasumi was able to comprehend what she had said before the others could register the contents of her rant. With a racing heart and a shortness of breath the slightly distraught Yamanaka hastily left the company of the boys.

When she finally got to the shop, Elder Runa was alarmed at the state of the girl before her. Through all these years of hardship, no one had ever witnessed Kasumi crying but those two boys had broken down her walls and both her rant and wet eyes proved this.


	11. 10 - Explanations and Friendship

Elder Runa made no comment about Kasumi's state and the afternoon carried on like most so that by the end of it you could almost be fooled that nothing different had happened at all. The change brought on by the rant towards Daiki and Tatsuya only took effect once Kasumi arrived back at home and was then forced to endure her family. The young Yamanaka put up no resistance that day or for the rest of the week either. Ino would do something, Airi would say something, Inoichi would ignore everything and Kasumi no longer cared. It was all met with a defeated glance before Kasumi would once again seek sanctuary in her small, bland bedroom. What made things even more unusual was that for this next week Kasumi was willing to stay at home in order to avoid going to the Academy and having to face those two boys. This meant that Kasumi was put to work at home as a slave with every room getting cleaned to perfection and nobody caring at this work she did. This continued until Elder Runa decided that an intervention was necessary.

"Kasumi,"

It was the middle of the day when the Elder came around to save the brown haired girl. The two were alone as Airi had just relieved Runa from the Yamanaka Flower Shop which meant that the two could talk without fear or interruption. As the Elder walked into the clan head's household Kasumi was currently scrubbing the kitchen floor which left Elder Runa to stand in the doorway and pity the marginalised and partially abandoned child.

"Elder Runa, what can I help you with?"

Said woman could hardly answer as Kasumi gave her a brief, lifeless look before going back to her cleaning as if it was the only thing in the world that she could do.

"Kasumi…"

"…Yes?"

"Why?"

This time Kasumi did stop her cleaning but didn't look up at the older Yamanaka. She remained on her knees and staring at the floor. Elder Runa didn't dare approach until the shoulders of the young Yamanaka began to shake. The next few minutes were spent getting the girl to the dining room to sit then making some tea which she wasn't able to drink through the sobbing.

Elder Runa sat on the seat next to the crying and distraught Yamanaka and gave her a hug. This contact caused Kasumi to jump and stiffen. It had been years since someone had shown her care and affection at all, much less like this. The crying restarted at this revelation but a few more minutes with Elder Runa rubbing soothing circles on her back and it subsided to a couple of sniffles and drying eyes.

The next couple of hours, until Ino would return from the Academy and Airi from the flower shop, were spent discussing everything that was happening in Kasumi's life, especially the bad. All of Elder Runa's suspicions were then confirmed. The young girl was all alone with no one to help, guide or love her. They talked about the continuously growing distance between the brown haired girl and her family, about the rumours and consequent animosity from her classmates and finally about the reason for her despair earlier that week. At last Kasumi had someone who she could confide in. She was able to tell Elder Runa about all of the confusing and conflicting feelings she felt concerning Daiki and Tatsuya. Kasumi didn't know whether she could trust the two boys but she so desperately wanted to believe that she could just in order to have people she could call friends. She also didn't want to have her heart broken. It wouldn't be able to take any more. Kasumi didn't know what to do and it was tearing her apart from the inside.

"Kasumi,"

"Yes, Elder Runa?"

"Why don't you just talk to the boys?"

The two Yamanakas were still sitting at the dining room table and were up to their third pot of tea by this point. The only indicators of Kasumi's previous episode were the red and puffy eyes and the tendency to take an interest in the floor or table top instead of Elder Runa during the conversation. This habit was currently in use.

"Would they want to talk to me?"

"Only one way to find out,"

Elder Runa placed her hand gently under the girls chin and tilted it so that they were finally making eye contact.

"This could be your way of finding out whether they are truly your friends or not. Whether they are willing to forgive you and accept you as you are. Flaws and all,"

Kasumi then went to staring at her hands folded in her lap.

"What do I say?"

The old Yamanaka moved her hand to rest it on the girls head and gave an affectionate rub.

"That you're sorry and then whatever feels right after that. Maybe offer up a bit of yourself to prove you mean it. Trust and friendship works both ways and I know it's not your fault but they do seem to have done all the work up until now,"

This was all that was needed to be said on the matter and after a promise from Kasumi to attend the Academy the next day Elder Runa left the residence and the young Yamanaka to her thoughts.

* * *

Kasumi kept her promise and was regretting it the entirety of the next day.

"Daiki…Tatsuya…"

Kasumi cautiously approached the two boys who shared a glance with each other before staring back at the ground again. They sat against a wall of the Academy, in the shade, and its secluded location meant that it had taken nearly the whole break for Kasumi to track them down after waiting at the tree for the entire previous break, futilely hoping they would come and join her. Kasumi had been nervously anticipating this situation all day and as such there were numerous instances she felt so sick as to actually consider going home. Even Elder Runa's encouragement wasn't helping much. Kasumi had been thinking extremely hard about what she could possibly say. Nothing seemed right. Nothing would be an acceptable reason for her outburst. No excuse. Probably no forgiveness either. Nothing but hurt. There was no hope. Daiki's and Tatsuya's reactions reinforced this and with this realisation Kasumi turned to leave.

"Kasumi,"

Tatsuya spoke up at Kasumi's movement but all she did was freeze at his voice. Another few minutes passed and just as Daiki got to his feet to approach the now unresponsive girl the break ended and it was time to return to class. This signal prompted Kasumi to race to the classroom leaving the two boys again and Katsu giving short barks at her retreating form.

Once back in the classroom the group was split up as they had been for the entire day but this time during the lessons Katsu moved from Daiki's side to sit on the step adjacent to where the Yamanaka sat by the window. Kasumi knew the ninken had journeyed from his partner and that this was an extremely unusual and significant thing. As the minutes passed on Katsu moved along the step to the person at the end of the bench and then gradually made his way between the feet of the students separating him from his goal. By the very last lesson of the day, that was reserved for study and preparation for the numerous tests during the week, Katsu was resting on Kasumi's lap and sleeping happily as the Yamanaka reviewed her village history and jutsu theory. This period of the day passed quickly with the quiet company and when the class was eventually dismissed Kasumi carried Katsu in her arms and waited outside near the usual tree for Daiki and Tatsuya to join the human-canine duo. Katsu was giving Kasumi a bit of confidence and strength with his forgiveness and presence but now would come the moment where it would be revealed if the others felt the same.

"Hey,"  
"Kasumi,"

As expected the two boys appeared and it was awkward even with their greetings. The only girl merely nodded her head in acknowledgement, whether towards the boys or the awkwardness even she wasn't entirely sure of. The three of them just ended up standing in silence for a while with no one moving. Daiki didn't even attempt to take his ninken back.

"Mum said that I can have friends over this afternoon,"

This invitation was all the clan kids needed and so Daiki and Kasumi followed their civilian born friend through the streets of Konoha to the destination at which their inevitable conversation will take place and at which their friendship will ultimately be determined.

* * *

"Mum! I'm home!"

While the walk had been in complete silence as soon as the trio crossed over the threshold of the Shiota residence Tatsuya promptly changed this status with his loud outburst causing both of his companions to jump. They hadn't realised their friend had such a loud side to him. Apparently he got it from his mother.

"Welcome home, Tatsuya! Did you bring your friends?!"

"Yes!"

"Oh, is it Daiki and Kasumi?! Those clan kids you talk about?!"

"Yes mum!"

"I'll put on some tea! Will you be in your room?!"

"Yes Mum!...Thank you!"

Turning back to the stunned forms of his guests the Shiota boy proceeded to lead them to their final destination. When the door closed to Tatsuya's room Daiki was finally shaken out of his shocked silence.

"Since when are you so loud?!"

Once he had realised that he too had just yelled Daiki quickly covered his mouth with both hands while Kasumi brought Katsu up to her face to hide her smile, something that only went unnoticed by Daiki. With a knowing look from Tatsuya, Kasumi decided that now was the best opportunity to start breaking down the proverbial walls.

"Afraid he's going to steal your thing?"

"Yeah. I mean, he's the silent/responsible one and I'm the loud/charismatic one,"

"Where does that leave Kasumi?"

"She's the strong/smart one,"

"That seems a little vague,"

"But it's true Kasumi!"

"I would think she was more quiet than me,"

"Stop ganging up on me guys!"

Everyone stopped and with a bark from Katsu they all burst into laughter. This action also caused them to stop. Daiki and Tatsuya had never heard Kasumi laugh before and Kasumi couldn't remember the last time she had heard it herself. Once again Katsu broke the silence as all it took was a simple lick to the face, as he was still nestled comfortable in the girl's arms, to cause another rare laugh. With all three children sporting a genuine smile the atmosphere became a lot less tense and Kasumi found that for the first time today she was prepared to talk to these two boys and ask for their forgiveness with the telling of her secrets and hardships. She figured that the best way to gain their forgiveness would be to give them her trust, another rare aspect of the Yamanaka, and she would do this by giving them an intermit look into her pain.

"Tatsuya…Daiki…I have something to tell you…"

The boys shared a glance similar to the one earlier that day but this time the outcome was a lot different.

"You don't have to,"

"Thanks Daiki but I feel I need to,"

"But we forgive you!...I think…Right, Tatsuya? I mean…what you said wasn't so bad. You were just upset and we were being really pushy…We just still admire you after what you did in the clearing last year,"

"No. You have no reason to forgive me. What I said was hurtful and uncalled for and unnecessary and inexcusable. Whatever I might be going through it is no excuse to lash out at you two. That's not what friends do and you both have been trying so hard to be nice to me…I guess I just freaked out a little…I've gotten so use to not letting people close…I'm…I'm sorry,"

Katsu's black fur got wet as Kasumi buried her face into its softness and for the second time allowed someone to see her cry.

The boys didn't know what to do. Would anyone know what to do? Apparently the answer to that question was Suzuka Shiota. Normally the civilian woman was extremely respectful and had manners in excess but this time she was going to go a little bit against her nature. If it wasn't for Daiki and Tatsuya focusing on Kasumi's crying they may have heard and noticed that the woman was opening the door. If Kasumi's eyes were open and not in Katsu's fur then she might have spotted the blonde haired woman.

"Dear. What's wrong?"

The young Yamanaka's head shot up and her wide brown eyes made her look scared and vulnerable, something that tore at every heart string in Suzuka's body. Daiki was frozen and seemed even more confused and uncertain than before. Suzuka's only child was looking at her as if she had just broken all trust and this look of disappointment was also borderline anger. The female Shiota was just going to have to deal with one thing at a time.

"Come on dear. Why are you crying?"

There was no reaction from any of the children in the room.

"Did the boys do something?"

Reaction.

"No. No…No…It's nothing…I'm fine,"

Suzuka wasn't just a mother but was the eldest of five siblings. She could read a child as easily as reading a book and at the moment she could tell that this distraught girl needed some time alone, at least for now. She would ask Tatsuya about it later.

"Okay dear. Sorry for the intrusion. I'll just leave the tea and treats on your desk Tatsuya for you and your friends. I'm just going to go out for a little bit to the markets. I'll be back soon,"

It was the least she could do to help after possibly making the situation extremely tense. The promise of no more interruptions and complete privacy could help ease their tongues and be the catalyst for this much needed conversation. A mother is always right (Airi Yamanaka excluded). When Suzuka Shiota left the room the tears died down and the discussion got back on track.

"Sorry about her,"

"It's okay Tatsuya. You're lucky to have such a nice and considerate mum,"

"Thanks Kasumi but I'm still really sorry. She usually knocks first and-"

"Stop with the apologising!"

"Daiki…"

"No Kasumi. We all need to stop saying sorry! None of us has done anything wrong and if we're supposed to be friends or going to be friends or whatever then we just forgive each other so stop apologising for everything in the world,"

"Okay Daiki, okay. How about we have that tea my mum brought in? Then I'm sure we all have a lot to say,"

"Can I start talking while we have the tea? I have a lot to say. You once asked me if I was a demon and the story may be longer than you think,"

And with that it all began. Three kids with their drinks and a dog sat on the floor of the room and spent the next few hours telling their stories and secrets to each other because trust works both ways and it's the strongest foundation for friendship.

* * *

This is the story of the demon child Kasumi Yamanaka.

It all begins before the founding of Konoha. Back when the Yamanaka clan was more or less on its own. This is actually a big part of it. It is all to do with the near breaking of alliances. The main form of survival in that brutal age.

Maybe this is being a little vague. Let's start at the beginning with the who and what to better explain the why.

The head of the Yamanaka clan had two children. Ichirou was his first son and heir and Itsuki was his second son. There had been two traditions throughout the existence of the Yamanaka clan, both to do with hair. Long hair in a ponytail was a symbol of allegiance to the clan and the mark of an adult, a sort of coming of age symbol. The second was reserved for the head of the clan as it had always been, since the first instance of records, that the heir or head of the clan had blonde hair. The golden threads were almost a right in themselves to lead the clan and for the first time in their clan's history, the Yamanaka's had a brown haired heir. There were of course some conservative members of the clan that were not open to this change but most were willing to accept Ichirou as their next head of clan. Saying that, all it takes is a few to object to it for lives to start to be ruined. Ichirou had grown up devoting every day of his life to training and learning so that he could be the best clan head possible and keep everyone safe. He was respected for his skills, knowledge, patience, compassion and understanding. He continued to live like this, even when doubt and sabotage tried to undo him. Being head was his duty and life goal; he refused to let anyone stop him.

There were a few that wished to stop him. Those few conservatives slowly started unravelling Ichirou, favouring his younger blonde brother. Rumours circulated that the reason behind Itsuki's conception was to get a replacement for Ichirou and this created more rumours about a mutiny against the biological and rightful heir. Ichirou loved his brother but became paranoid as the rumours grew. Then there was the breaking point.

Itsuki was arranged to be married. Itsuki would have a family and produce a possible heir before Ichirou, whose role it was rightfully. Losing all reason, the brown haired Yamanaka clan heir decided to put a stop to this and every rumour and ultimately creating the most historic one of all. His brother was betrothed to a Nara. A noble high up in the clan hierarchy and to a clan they already had strong ties to. There was an engagement ceremony and party and a massacre. Ichirou was stopped before he could get to the couple who were at the centre of his rage but not before murdering his own parents and quite a few high ranking members of both clans. It was a diplomatic atrocity.

He was branded a traitor and a demon and to restore the relationship between the two clans he was immediately executed. This allowed the blonde heir tradition to continue and any variation of this to be branded as evil and despised. It had been generations between this and now with no differing hair colour until Kasumi. She was branded a demon and a curse out of fear of a repetition of the past. This is why many members of the clan hoped, however impossible, that she was not Inoichi's daughter. She had to be as Ino's twin but in their hearts she was nothing but an imposter and a monster.

It was as simple as that.

* * *

Daiki and Tatsuya hadn't moved throughout the entire story. All three children still had full cups of tea only now they were cold. Kasumi hoped that this story might partially excuse her actions and explain her hesitance to open up to others. Once the boys recovered from the revelation of Kasumi's story and how it had affected her life through no fault of her own they then told her their stories. While possibly not as bad, it is still things that have altered their lives and brought hardship and sadness along with it.

Daiki went first and his story was all about Katsu.

The reason Katsu wasn't with Daiki that time in the clearing was because he was sick. Katsu has always been sick and weak and it is because of this that Daiki gets treated differently as he refuses to give up his sick ninken. Daiki still hopes that Katsu will get better and get stronger and prove everyone in his clan wrong. He was determined to stand by his dear ninken. But he also had another problem. Daiki desperately wanted to become as strong as his older brother Shin. Shin was his idol and rival at the same time. Since their father had died Shin became a mentor for Daiki but as brothers it was obvious that their mother favoured the older Inuzuka. This left Daiki with a dilemma which tore at his heart. If Katsu never got better then he would never get stronger as a ninja and be a disappointment to his family but at the same time he couldn't bring himself to give up on his best friend. All he could do was hope, no matter how small it got.

Tatsuya filled the silence that followed with his story of being a civilian.

Kasumi and Daiki already knew that it was hard for Tatsuya but they never realised how hard. Tatsuya's parents weren't entirely supportive of their son's decision to 'throw away his life'. His parents have always wanted him to take over the small family business and being the only child he is the only one who can do it. Basically Tatsuya had it harder than the rest of the civilian born Academy students. Not only was he receiving less support, reluctant support, but he was also a bit of a loner amongst the other civilians. The only reason Tatsuya was with the other civilians in the clearing was because he didn't want to be alone and was more or less just following them around. Daiki then started talking to him which, although Tatsuya appreciated, it also marginalised him further from the other civilians. Apparently they didn't like him having a clan kid as a friend. Despite this Tatsuya still wanted to become Kasumi's friend. It may cause twice as much trouble for him but he didn't care, he just wanted friends. It was all he ever wanted. He was tired of being alone.

This heart-to-heart talk left Kasumi, Daiki and Tatsuya emotionally exhausted and with the sun beginning to set they decided to say a few quiet goodbyes before Kasumi and Daiki made their respective journeys home.

The day had been a success for everyone.

* * *

 **Hey everyone! I usually don't try not to do these notes at the end but I just wanted to see how you all thought this story was going. I was also thinking of either doing another Naruto story or a Bleach one instead. Don't worry, I don't plan on stopping this story I just need a bit of inspiration sometimes. Anyway, I hope this chapter helps to clear up some questions and this should be the end of the tears for... a chapter or 2, unless I feel especially evil when I write.**

 **Please review :)**


	12. 11 - Family

The heart-to-heart at the Shiota residence led to the Academy becoming one of the favourite parts of Kasumi's life, along with the rest of the time she spent with her new, and only, friends Daiki, Katsu and Tatsuya. Kasumi had met Tatsuya's mother on that fateful day, Suzuka, and as the rest of the month dragged on she then met Daiki's family and Tatsuya's father. Hiroki Shiota was very kind just like his wife but the children tended to see less of him then Suzuka as he worked long hours at his small business.

Over the month after the sealing of their friendship it had become a habit to go to Tatsuya's after the end of the Academy day and spend the rest of the afternoon there. Suzuka would dote on them and ask them how their day was before bringing them treats. About once a week Hiroki would finish work early and on that day Daiki and Kasumi would always be invited to stay for dinner.

Meeting Daiki's family was a much more interesting experience. It was after this four weeks of normality that one day after the Academy Daiki asked if instead of going to Tatsuya's for the afternoon if they could go to the Inuzuka compound. Without missing a beat, although still being curious as to the reason, Kasumi and Tatsuya agreed and so after calling in briefly to tell Suzuka that they were going somewhere else for the afternoon, just so that she wouldn't start worrying as seemed to be a specialty of hers, they headed to Daiki's home.

"Mum! Yusei! Shin! Masato!"

It seemed that both Daiki and Tatsuya had similar ways of announcing their arrival at home but Daiki's yelling still left his two friends equally confused and curious.

"Since when do you have three brothers? You only ever talk about one,"

"So my little bro does mention me?"

Tatsuya hadn't expected the answer to his question to come from behind him and in his shock tripped over Katsu, leaving him sitting on the floor looking up at an older version of Daiki. Tatsuya sat silently with his mouth open as he remained the focus of the older Inuzuka's attention. He was like this for some time before Kasumi decided to save him as Daiki's snickering clearly indicated he had no intention of lending any help himself.

"You must be Shin then. It's very nice to meet you. I'm Kasumi Yamanaka and the one on the floor is Tatsuya Shiota. We're Daiki's classmates,"

Tatsuya went red in the face as Kasumi brought the attention back to him. She may have saved him in some respects but she needed to have a bit of fun as well. This didn't go unnoticed by anyone and may have contributed to Shin's following laughter.

"Yes and it's nice to meet you as well. Now the reply to your friend's question. Yusei is mum's ninken and Masato is mine. Simple,"

With that last word Shin shrugged his shoulders and continued down the hallway with a large brown dog trailing him, after seemingly coming out of nowhere.

"He seems nice,"

Kasumi succeeded in dispersing the slight awkwardness as the three children proceeded to laugh at their own antics. Once settled they were able to get Tatsuya back on his feet and continued through the house, down the hallway that Shin had disappeared a minute or two earlier. They took their time as they made their way to the back door with Daiki telling them more about his brother. Shin had apparently just returned from a very long mission and was scheduled to leave for another the next morning which was the very justified reason why Daiki wanted so desperately to go home straight after the Academy. It was obvious how much admiration Daiki had for his older brother. There was a good ten or so years between the two boys and with Daiki having little memory of his father Shin had become his role model. Not that that was a bad thing as Daiki went on about how his brother was quite an accomplished shinobi and known for being very strong. Early graduation from the Academy and earlier than usual rank promotions had seen Shin hit Jonin when he was 15, not the most impressive in history but still something Daiki understandably revered in his idol.

"…And you should see him fight alongside Masato. They fight so well together it's just the best. Oh, there was this one time when I saw them practising this new technique together and it went all wrong but they still managed to save it by changing it midway through, I don't even know how, and they still hit the target they just work that well together and for them to be doing that technique to begin with was amazing but to think that quickly and stop themselves from crashing was just-"

"Amazing,"

Kasumi and Tatsuya simultaneously stopped Daiki's proud rant once they had reached the back porch and, as with Shin, Daiki's mother overheard their conversation and scared them all with the unexpectedness of her presence when she spoke.

"They seem to know you well Daiki,"

Said boy copied what happened to Tatsuya earlier and ended up on the floor facing his amused mother. Now while Shin looked exactly like Daiki neither brother took after their mother in appearance. This Inuzuka woman could be considered a near perfect example of her clan's stereotype with her dark brown hair and eyes, the prominent red markings and the ever present feral features no matter the expression. Either way Kasumi thought the woman before her was beautiful and from the few words the Inuzuka had spoken the young girl predicted she would get along quite well with this woman.

Once Daiki was back on his feet and mumbling complaints under his breath Kasumi and Tatsuya followed through with their introductions and formally met their friend's mother. Nami Inuzuka was indeed kind but had no objections to a bit of friendly mischief at her son's expense, either of them. Kasumi and Tatsuya were pleased to hear that Daiki spoke often about them to his family and it was a comfort to know that Nami knew about both of their current circumstances, so much so that Nami gave both of them an open invitation to come by the house freely if they ever needed somewhere to go. There were a few tense moments once the sensitive topic was brought up and Daiki panicked for a brief instance, knowing he hadn't gotten his friends' permission to share their stories. Nami's offer was what defused the situation before it escalated as her sympathetic offer of safety showed that Daiki had truly had Kasumi and Tatsuya's best interests at heart when he told his mother their painful secrets.

Within an hour of conversation with this woman it was learnt that she was the only reason that Daiki had been permitted to keep Katsu and her exceedingly generous offer meant that if Tatsuya's parents heckled him about his choice in the shinobi path or pressured him to change or if Kasumi needed to escape her family then they both could find sanctuary with this caring family of Inuzukas.

As the afternoon progressed further Shin and Masato came to join the group of six, including Katsu and Yusei, and the discussions continued with more energy and laughter than ever before. Nobody in that small gathering had ever laughed so hard or for so long in what felt like forever. It didn't stop until after sunset where Shin offered to quickly inform Hiroki and Suzuka that Tatsuya would be staying the night. Shin did offer the same for Kasumi's family but she quickly assured him and Nami that her family likely wouldn't even notice her absence and that if they did they certainly wouldn't care enough to become concerned. This information dampened the mood a little but after a great deal of reassurance from the young Yamanaka everyone soon fell back into the joyous mood from before. However it was inevitable that it be brought up again and as the scrumptious dinner came to an end it was indeed this sombre topic that became the focus.

"Kasumi,"

Nami broke into the topic and everyone in the room grew silent and looked at the young brunette for her response.

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure you're alright?"  
"You know you're a lot like Tatsuya's mum,"

"Kasumi,"

"Yes, I'm alright,"

"Kasumi,"

With each saying of the young girl's name Nami's voice and tone became sterner and eventually left no room for argument or avoidance.

"It's been a lot better since I met Daiki and Tatsuya and the past month has been the best I can remember. I only really go home now to sleep which means I don't have to deal with my family as much so nothing bad has happened lately with them,"

"Will they get mad at you for not going home tonight?"

"Well-"

"The truth Kasumi,"

These last few words were a growl.

"…Maybe. If only to give themselves an excuse to be angry at me…"

"Kas-"

"But it's alright! I mean- sorry. I just-… It really is alright. They don't get as angry at me anymore since Elder Runa started being really nice to me. Which reminds me!"

At this she directed the conversation to her two friends.

"When was the last time we went to the flower shop? We haven't seen Elder Runa in a while,"

With the sincerity of the change in topic, as compared to last time, Nami didn't press to continue the previous line of discussion.

Sometimes on the way to Tatsuya's house after the Academy the trio would stop by the Yamanaka Flower Shop but only on the days that they knew Elder Runa was working there. They hadn't called by in the past couple of weeks because they had wanted to do extra study for the tests they had had at the end of the previous week.

"When is she working next?"

Daiki and Tatsuya knew how much it meant to Kasumi to keep in touch with Elder Runa so that she could at least feel as if she was sort of accepted by and a part of the Yamanaka clan and so Daiki and Tatsuya didn't hesitate in helping their friend.

"We could go tomorrow morning on our way to the Academy. We just have to leave a little earlier,"

Kasumi had to think for a little bit and, after asking what day of the week it was which caused laughter and earnt her a couple of affectionate head rubs from the older people at the table, she was able to determine that the Yamanaka Elder would indeed be working the following morning. With the conclusion of Daiki's question and Tatsuya's solution the evening was wrapped up in the Inuzuka household and with a couple of mattresses on the floor the trio and ninken settled in for the night.

* * *

The following morning revealed that the children had taken quite a while to 'settle in' as Nami walked into the kitchen looking extremely tired and very displeased with said people she saw mingling before her. Daiki, Kasumi and Tatsuya were especially lively that morning even if they themselves had had less sleep than usual that previous night.

They were all up as the sun began to rise in order to see Shin off on his next mission, forcing a promise that his next break would be much longer. While Nami had woken to see her eldest son off she had then attempted to get a few more hours sleep before her day had to officially begin. This plan had no chance of succeeding as the children had decided that they wanted to get everything ready for their own day. This involved showers, something that took a long time as each child spent an exceedingly extended time under the running water, as well as clattering in the kitchen as breakfasts and lunched were made, which is where Nami found them now.

If the Inuzuka woman had thought that she was about to get angry at the trio then she was once again wrong that early and eventful morning as one look at the Yamanaka erased all of the words she had ready for her rant. Shin had gotten Tatsuya a change of clothes from Suzuka when he went to tell her and her husband that Tatsuya would not be coming home that night but Kasumi didn't have that chance so Nami had found an old change of clothes from one of her cousin's daughters. Seeing Kasumi in something of the more feral Inuzuka style instead of the almost prim and proper Yamanaka style was enough to cause the change in Nami. With the brown coloured hair and eyes as well as the wide and mischievous grin and the Inuzuka clothing the young girl could have easily passed as a member of this ninken focused ninja clan.

Kasumi usually wore a simple blue kunoichi kimono, a dress with slits up both legs for movement, and some plain black leggings underneath and her hair in the standard ponytail. This morning she wore something not as elegant. She had on dark grey, cargo style, three-quarter length pants and a dull yellow-orange coloured shirt. Whether by design or chance Kasumi had her hair in a low and loose ponytail instead of her usual high and proud clan tradition hairstyle. All together a more relaxed look then what she usually had to wear and it would seem that the girl herself was also more relaxed.

The children had stopped what they were doing to look up at Nami when she entered the room and were still waiting for her to speak as she was assessing the scene before her. After still not uttering a word Nami walked out of the kitchen only to shortly return with a dark brown jacket that she then proceeded to drape over the young girl's shoulders.

"The mornings have been quite chilly recently,"

"…Thank you,"

Kasumi started tearing up at this caring gesture, never before remembering receiving such affection as her mother had long ago decided not to care if this particular daughter got sick.

To diffuse the potentially overly emotional situation the two boys proceeded to drag their friend outside for some training. Nami simply made herself breakfast and listened to the large amount of yelling and shouting which occurred every time someone hit a target in weapon practise or as a one-on-one fight had finished.

The morning continued in this fashion before the trio and ninken left to pay a visit to the Yamanaka Flower Shop on their way to the Academy. As was expected, Elder Runa was overjoyed to see the youngest of the Yamanaka clan head household but surprisingly she wasn't angry at the children for not seeing her sooner, as they had feared all during that morning. As a matter of fact she gave each of the trio a hug in turn and then, when they gave their explanation for the delayed visit, she simply asked how they had gone on the tests. Their answer was that they would be getting the results in class that morning and her only request was that they paid her a visit after the Academy to tell her how they went. After making the promise they stayed for about half an hour before leaving for the Academy and in that time talked to the elderly Yamanaka and helped her with the few customers that wandered in.

Kasumi, Daiki, Katsu and Tatsuya arrived at the Academy on time and surprisingly so did everyone else in the class. This particular set of tests was going to determine the ranking within the class and everyone was equally excited and scared of the results.

"Guys my stomach hurts,"

"Daiki you're just overreacting,"

"Mine hurts as well. Why aren't you nervous Kasumi?"

"I don't really care I guess. I mean I do but I don't. How do I put it? ... You want to do well to show your parents that you should become a shinobi and Daiki wants to do well to be like Shin but I don't really have anything to prove and my family won't care either way so, yeah. I sort of don't care,"

"You always have something to say Kasumi,"

"Why are you always so depressing?"

The reactions of both Tatsuya and Daiki, respectively, were true on many ways but merely caused a staring contest to start between the two boys with Kasumi, and Katsu in her lap, sitting helplessly and exasperated in the middle.

A little while later Itona Sensei entered and the whole room went quiet. This man knew how much power he now held over his students and was going to use this situation as another test of sorts for his class.

"Hello class. It would appear as if everyone is here. Good. Now. I know you all want to know what your score and ranking are but this is how we are going to do it. I will out a piece of paper in front of each of you that will have on it both your score and rank as well as any feedback I feel is necessary. Now you will not be allowed to turn over the paper until I have handed all of them out AND said you can. Is that clear?"

"Yes Sensei!"

The response was almost instantaneous but Itona wondered how many of them would actually be able to follow his instructions. The children needed to learn patience and how to follow orders. There weren't going to be any severe consequences today but one day that may not be the case and it wouldn't hurt to try to teach them a bit now.

The shinobi made his way slowly around the room distributing the papers in a 'random' order, or that is what he told them he was actually giving the papers in order from most likely to break the rules to least likely. As he had expected, many of the children started turning over their papers before he said to and so before he had even finished handing them all out most were reading them as soon as they got them. Either forgetting the rules or thinking that because the others were doing it it was then ok for them to do it as well. By the end there were only four that had listened. Kausmi had reminded the boys when they had gone to look at their results and so had stopped them. The other student that had followed orders was Neji Hyuga. Kasumi and Neji were the two studens that he knew would listen and he was surprised that Daiki and Tatsuya had listened to their friend enough to stop themselves from giving in to curiousity. Either way it was these four students that had passed and therefore would be the only ones to not have to suffer the consequence. Even if that consequence was only an after school detention. Itona looked at Neji and the trio, gave them a nod of his head and with the signal they eagerly flipped over the papers to finally discover the answers to the questions gnawing at their minds since class started.

With that Itona left the children the rest of the time until the first break to read over their results and share them with each other. There was already a lot of talk about who had gotten the top 3 positions or even the top 5. Some were trying to show off their marks and others just wanted to hide them. Either way Itona was having fun analysing their reactions and interactions to this information.

"Kasumi, Tatsuya! What did you get?!"

"I got 5th!"

"I got 4th!"

"Good job guys,"

"What did you get Kasumi?!"

"Yeah!"

"No it's okay. We should just be happy at what you guys got,"

The two boys were quiet at this and both were trying to figure out the underlying meaning to their friend's words.

"Come on Kasumi! We know you did well!"

"Yeah! You had to have done better than us!"

"So what did you get?!"

"Was it 3? 2? Ohhhhhh, you got #1 didn't you?!"

"That's great Kasumi!"

"Hang on a minute I never said anything like that!"

"We know you Kasumi. You had to do well,"

"Why didn't you want to tell us?"

"Because you guys would overreact and I don't want everyone else in the class to know I came first, otherwise they will start trying to compete with me and I don't want that to start happening,"

"Okay,"

"Fair enough,"

While this discussion/interrogation went on Neji had walked over to the trio and surprised all of them when he finally spoke up after hearing most of their conversation.

"So Yamanaka, you got first,"

It wasn't a question, more of an accusation and neither Daiki nor Tatsuya were going to tolerate that tone being directed at their friend.

"Why? Got a problem with that?"

"Yeah. Jealous Hyuga?"

Said boy simply turned to the other two males who had now gotten to their feet and came up with his own retort which just made tempers flare even more.

"I only want to talk to the one who beat me, not some second rate losers,"

"Second rate?!"

"We both got in the top 5!"

"Not even top 3 then,"

"What!"

"Frankly I'm surprised a civilian kid could even get in the top 5,"

"You-!"

"All of you stop,"

Three pairs of eyes landed on the girl who had finally spoken, all equally surprised at her calmness. Kasumi slowly stood up moved to stand between Neji and Daiki, so that her two friends stood behind her and out of reach of strangling Neji.

"If I was the same as you then I wouldn't be able to talk to anyone in this class. Being the best and all. But I'm not like you. I will talk to someone based on who they are as a person not who they are on paper. So firstly, don't talk to my friends like that and secondly because of how you talked to my friends I don't want to talk to you. I'm sorry but that's just how it is,"

With that she sat down, in what was Daiki's seat, and Katsu crawled back onto her lap. This forced Daiki and Tatsuya to sit away from the aisle and stuck between Kasumi and the wall, just in case they wanted to go after Neji and strangle him for earlier. Needless to say Neji did not appreciate this rejection and went off in a huff with as much dignity as he could try to muster at that point. The wordless retreat indicated he obviously didn't expect a response of that sort. Neither did Daiki or Tatsuya as they both sat down in stunned silence. When next Kasumi spoke they both jumped and crowded against the wall, Kasumi just laughed.

"How long until the break?"

All three started laughing and attracting the attention of others but they honestly couldn't care less.

* * *

The break did finally come and the trio spent the time by themselves and ignored anyone who tried to ask them about their score. After what happened with Neji they followed Kasumi's example of not sharing or bragging about it, the only ones that needed to know are their families. There was more class, another break, more lessons and then finally the Academy day came to an end with Itona Sensei announcing that everyone except for Kasumi, Daiki, Tatsuya and Neji would be staying behind for after school detention because of their inability to follow orders. A couple of high fives later and the trio were making their way towards the Yamanaka Flower Shop to fulfil their promise to Elder Runa before they went to the Shiota residence. As could be expected Elder Runa was proud of all three of the young children for working hard and doing well. A few hugs afterwards saw Kasumi, Daiki and Tatsuya back on the streets walking towards their final destination, feeling proud of themselves whenever they noticed a popular child hangout was empty because of the detention.

"Mum! We're home!"

"Hello Mrs Shiota!"

After saying the ritualistic greetings and getting the screamed reply of "Hello children!" the usual routine changed. Suzuka usually asked how their day had been after this first yell but today was different.

"Kasumi! Daiki! Would you two like to stay the night?!"

It turns out that Suzuka can be a bit of a competitive mother and because she knew the children had stayed at the Inuzuka's, because Shin had come and asked if Tatsuya was allowed to stay, she now wanted them to spend the night here, making it more or less even. She had everything planned. So when they started asking questions about it she had all of the answers ready.

"Daiki, I've already talked to your mother and Nami said it was fine, oh and Kasumi, she left another change of clothes for you as well. She also said something about not worrying about informing your family so basically if you two want you're free to stay,"

It was obvious how much she wanted them to stay and neither of them was prepared to face her wrath so they wore smiles and nodded with a chorus from the three of "Thank you" and "Yes please".

First they told Suzuka all about their scores at the Academy and then asked if they could go see Nami and tell her as well. So after a heap of congratulations and a bit of a walk they went back to Tatsuya's, waited for Hiroki to get home, had dinner and then settled in for the night.

So, for the second night in a row, Kasumi didn't return home and doubted that anyone cared because if they did it wouldn't be too hard from them to come and find her and they had yet to do that. Kasumi wished this would go on forever but she knew that sooner or later she would have to go home and see her family again but the past couple of days had gotten her thinking, when she became a kunoichi she wouldn't have to go back ever. She could do what she wanted. That was her goal now.


	13. 12 - One-on-One

It had been two nights since Kasumi had last been home. Two nights without having to see her family. No hateful stares or unnecessary yelling. No need to avoid every living soul around or stay locked in a room. To her it was the true definition of freedom and something she could never remember experiencing before. 9 years. It was forever for her; her whole life.

Anyway, her life right now was focused on spending more time with her friends. Kasumi was walking to the Academy with Daiki and Tatsuya, holding Katsu in her arms. It was nice. It was … not very quiet.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

The two boys had one arm wrapped around the other and one arm punching the air above their head. They were acting like complete idiots but all it did was make Kasumi laugh, she didn't even mind the yelling. They were excited because today would be one-on-one training but not like what they had done before. It wasn't specifically taijutsu or ninjutsu, or hand-to-hand or weapons; it was going to be all of them combined. Needless to say, most were overjoyed at this big step forward. This symbolised the start of their real training for becoming a shinobi; a ninja of Konoha.

Kasumi was not as excited but was going to smile for her friends. The young Yamanaka was definitely young, compared to everyone else in her class she was a year younger. Her promotion within the Academy meant that she had a year less of training compared to the other students. The book work was easy for her to catch up on as she liked to read and spent most of her time in her room, before she became friends with Daiki and Tatsuya anyway, the training was time that she didn't have much of. She worked hard in class and therefore got the high rank in class but her confidence wasn't terribly high and her number one ranking would mean that everyone would want to beat her, possibly even sabotage, taunt or bully. It was all just a horrible experience just waiting to happen.

Remember to smile.

"Kasumi!"

"What are you thinking about back there?!"

"Just how ridiculous you two look,"

Her train of thought had caused her to fall behind the boys a little but she was not going to ruin their day. What happens, happens. If anything it would be a good bit of training and allow Kasumi to identify the areas she needed to work on the most. Maybe Nami would help her train afterwards.

The rest of the walk transitioned in a similar way. The boys yelled, jumped around and celebrated the coming day at the Academy and Kasumi walked casually behind them talking to the ninken in her arms and occasionally reply and keep conversation with the excited duo. When the group eventually reached the Academy, after gaining a lot of inquisitive stares from others in the street, they found most of their classmates in a similar mood.

As with the previous day, Itona Sensei entered the classroom on the bell to find all of his students seated and accounted for. The children had to wait until after their lunch break before the class would begin the one-on-one exercise and, with a thinly veiled threat about any screw ups in class missing out on this highly anticipated activity, there were no incidents throughout the entire day. Everyone payed close attention in class just in case Itona Sensei let slip any tips for the fights or they learnt something new to give them an advantage. The amount of effort that the students put into this particular exercise was the reason why it was always started straight after the rankings were handed out. The children were always thinking short term and so would get excited over one thing, the ranks, and not have as much time for the exercises. This stopped things from getting too competitive between the children as, unlike the ranks, it was a physical thing and, while Itona hoped that the children of his class wouldn't resort to such tactics, sometimes this could cause sabotage in the form of injuries to the other students. For only being the third of five years in the Academy the students took this step a bit too seriously. The other reason why the one-on-one fights were done after the rankings were handed out was so the students could be paired with those of a similar strength and also so that it would be obvious who was actively studying and wouldn't just practice for an exercise like this. All in all it was going to be a hectic last period at the Academy and, with both ranks and battle results, a big week in general.

Daiki and Tatsuya were no exception to the rest of their class with Kasumi having to put up with both boys talking non-stop throughout the entirety of lunch. Kasumi was more scared of her disadvantage and high expectations than excited at the new experience and so only listened to her friends' eager and enthusiastic words.

"What's going to happen if we have to fight each other?!"

"That would be so cool! Being all the fighting techniques it could be anyone's fight! What do you think Kasumi?!"

"Yeah,"

"I don't know who else I would want to fight,"

"Me neither. Hey, do you think you would be allowed to fight with Katsu this time?"

"Probably! Katsu is involved in my clan's technique, like how the Hyuga will be able to use his Byakugan,"

"That seems really unfair!"

"Yeah,"

"Haven't you noticed that Neji is always allowed to use it?"

"What?!"

"Yeah,"

This was how lunch went for the trio with Kasumi the only one actually eating her lunch with the boys then going on about how they didn't want to eat in case they were sick and Kasumi too nervous to be able to explain that they would most likely need the energy. She didn't even want to bring up and ask if Katsu would be strong enough or if Daiki was prepared to take that chance. It would only bring the mood down and it was sort of a good thing that Daiki and Tatsuya were so happy about this fight and not taking it too seriously. Hopefully they then wouldn't feel too bad if they happened to lose, which Kasumi doubted. She still had a little bit of optimism unaffected by her present attitude and she was making sure to save it all for her friends. Another thing that Kasumi didn't mention was the fact that Neji had been observing them the entire time. Undoubtedly he was looking at her specifically but she wondered why throughout the whole of the break as to why, he wouldn't be fighting her anyway as they had different genders and he made it extremely clear the previous day that he was uninterested in making a rival out of either Daiki or Tatsuya. Kasumi didn't want to think of it too hard, she already had a headache.

Lunch finally ended but once again all of the students were inside and in their seats long before they were actually required. So when Itona Sensei walked into the room he had a big decision to make. He could make his students wait or he could let them head to the training field, but if he let them out then they would be too loud to talk to. What to do. What to do.

"Class,"

They were already deathly silent but now they were paying even more attention.

"First of all, you need to know that for this exercise it will be separated into boys and girls and it will be ladies first,"

He had to be quick if he wanted to stop the oncoming flood of complaints from the male majority of the room.

"Class,"

The power he had over this group of kids right now was amazing. It went from noise to nothing in a second.

"There aren't very many girls so those fights won't take as long as the boys. The other things I want to point out are that I want clean fights. Before, during and after. No sabotage. No grudges. And you will need to keep the noise down if you want to know who your opponent is and who will be fighting next. I will call out the next pair after a fight is over. Alright?"

It wasn't really a question but the eruption of noise surrounding the collective response of "Yes, Sensei!" gave a clear answer anyway.

* * *

Between the excitement and nerves Kasumi was almost suffocating. There would only be two fights for the girls, that's how few girls there were in this class, and one had already passed. Chizuru and Masayo had a quick and frankly anticlimactic with only a few punches being thrown and the fight going to Chizuru because Masayo fell over and hurt her hand. It was probably a good thing that the girls were going first because if everyone got hyped on the boys fighting then this would be an even bigger disappointment.

Needless to say, Kasumi was in the next fight and still not looking forward to it. The other girl, TenTen, was very skilled in taijutsu and weapons and definitely stronger than the other two girls. This fight would be a little bit more interesting and hopefully Kasumi's nerves wouldn't get the best of her, she needed to perfect that skill for real combat eventually anyway.

Itona Sensei called out the two girls, even though it wasn't necessary as they were the only two left, and so Kasumi and TenTen faced off on the training field. This training field wasn't like the grass ones dotted around on the outskirts of the village but had a dirt floor. The field was surrounded by a tall, wire fence on two sides, weapon targets on another and a wall of the Academy building for the last one. The rest of the class and Itona Sensei stood along the two adjacent sides with the fence and were making a lot more noise than they did for the previous fight. It was obvious these two girls were the stronger pair and they all wanted to see a proper fight; a fight that the whole exercise was about. A fight with everything.

"Fight!"

A simple signal but it prompted no movement from either combatant. Each was analysing the other and neither wanted to make the first move in case they created an opening for their opponent or did something too predictable and was countered instantly. Already the tension from this fight outdid anything produced from the last scuffle. Surprisingly no one called out for them to start and instead all of the spectators respected the strategies taking place. For how long this would last was unclear.

The two brown haired girls continued to face off before Kasumi finalised her strategy and decided to put it in motion. In a quick movement Kasumi reached for her weapons pouch, grabbed one of the wooden replicas and threw it at her opponent's face, deliberately aiming for the right side. TenTen was able to react in time, as expected, but because she was right handed it meant that her whole left side was defenceless as she moved to stop the incoming projectile. Kasumi knew this opportunity would present itself and so when she released her own weapon she didn't hesitate and moved swiftly to TenTen's unguarded side. Not wasting time to grab another weapon, Kasumi merely landed a solid kick to the other girl's exposed ribs sending said girl flying into wooden posts used for target practice.

Now TenTen was on her back in amongst obstacles but didn't have enough time to process this as she punched a target in an attempt to land a hit on the younger girl. Once again it was following precisely to Kasumi's plan as she easily dodged by using the target as a shield and simultaneously injuring her opponent who would now have a small injury to her preferred hand.

Everything wouldn't always go to plan through. TenTen caught on quick and used the targets as cover herself instead of doing what Kasumi had wanted and moving back out into the open to then be an easy target. Luckily, there were only a few wooden poles and they were all in a straight line, meaning whoever stepped out from their cover first would be a clear target. It became another waiting game. Kasumi had to either come up with a plan for a counterattack if she broke cover first or attack while TenTen wasn't looking. There were two targets separating the girls which meant a surprisingly large distance to travel in an instance, for the skill of these two anyway.

Kasumi only had a few options. Firstly, she hadn't learnt any attacking jutsus, just the clone jutsu and transfiguration, which meant that there would be no help there. Secondly, she was too far away for taijutsu which left weapons as she had yet to learn genjutsu. TenTen was known as being especially skilled with weapons so Kasumi would be at a disadvantage. But that could be changed to an advantage very quickly if she played her cards right.

A wire connected to a kunai. Simple.

Kasumi threw it to the left of TenTen's cover and with the wire it curled around, causing TenTen to block. While her opponent was distracted from the unexpected attack, Kasumi was able to close the distance without risk of a ranged attack.

While TenTen was defending her right, as she had her back to the target, the Yamanaka came in on her left. Kasumi didn't have time to draw another kunai but another solid kick to TenTen's side sent the girl flying back into the clearing. Kasumi now had time to pull out a kunai and before TenTen could get back on her feet Kasumi was sitting on her chest with the kunai placed firmly against TenTen's throat.

The fight was over surprisingly quickly, with everything that had happened it felt a whole lot longer to the two girls who had fought. Their classmates cheered as Itona Sensei declared Kasumi the victor and Kasumi helped TenTen to her feet.

"Great fight,"

"You too,"

"You backed me into a corner for a minute,"

"Yeah but you seemed to have a solution for everything,"

"I'm just lucky my gambles paid off,"

The girls stood in the clearing talking for a minute before Itona Sensei called them back to the group to the laughter of everyone. Kasumi and TenTen included.

It was the first of a few spectacular fights that day but there was another that was even greater and a lot harder to forget.

It was the second last fight of the day. Tatsuya had fought another civilian born boy and had only just lost. This fight was Daiki's. Unfortunately he was paired to fight Neji Hyuga.

Daiki would never admit it but he was scared. He knew if he had Tatsuya and Kasumi then he would be fine but this was one-on-one. He could have Katsu fight with him but against someone like Neji he wasn't going to risk the safety of his best friend. Neji had made it clear that he detested Daiki and Tatsuya and wanted to hurt Kasumi for beating him. Daiki's priority right now was getting out of the fight without any serious injuries because if he backed out then he would never hear the end of the ridicule from the entire class, besides his friends of course.

And so Daiki and Neji entered the dirt clearing.

This was even more suspenseful and anticipated then Kasumi's fight with TenTen. The noise was deafening. It was only Kasumi and Tatsuya that made no noise and only silently prayed that Daiki would make it out in one piece. Neji's reputation, after his father died, was one that was strong and ruthless. To make it out of the fight unscathed from Neji would be nothing short of a miracle, especially as the Hyuga was allowed to use his clan's special fighting style and techniques in this battle.

"Fight!"

This battle started a lot differently to the girls' own fight. Even before the signal had finished the two boys had come together in a scuffle of taijutsu. If Daiki's head wasn't clouded with fear and anger then he may have realised that ranged attacks would be a lot wiser against a Hyuga and that taijutsu was a death sentence in most scenarios.

Neji's palms were open and facing his opponent while Daiki's knuckles were white from being clenched in tight fists. Luckily, Neji wasn't experienced enough or strong enough to kill with his blows yet but the pain on Daiki's face was enough to confirm that it was still an effective technique even at this low level. Most of Neji's hits were landing on Daiki's torso with few blocked but then when Daiki went on the offensive he was also weaker than the Hyuga boy. Daiki was lucky to deal glancing blows to his opponent's arms, let alone anywhere to cause pain or damage in any form. The fight was one sided from the beginning but Daiki had a surprisingly large stubborn streak.

Daiki tried everything from quickly changing the side he was attacking from to even flipping over his opponent in an attempt to get Neji from behind but nothing was working in the Inuzuka's favour. Whether he was punching or kicking and no matter how much strength he put behind these moves he was simply unable to get past Neji's defence and each miss only angered Daiki more, causing his taijutsu to become sloppy. To the bystanders it appeared as if Daiki was putting in all of his effort while Neji had to only do a simple and effortless movement to block and then attack. With this realisation the excitement started to die down and the noise from the onlookers soon stopped all together.

The one-sided exchange of blows continued when Neji made the final moves to end his fight without any arguments. Neji took a step backwards as another of Daiki's wild punches was aimed at the pale-eyed boy so that it easily missed his face but then what came next was unexpected and definitely uncalled for. Neji sank into a squat and slightly rotated before thrusting his arm forward so that his palm connected with the side of the Inuzuka's knee. Daiki was quick to fall and this gave Neji the opportunity to retrieve a kunai from his pouch and slash the fallen boy's shoulder before placing the weapon to his exposed throat. Daiki was too busy clutching at his knee and shoulder in pain to even register this threat or notice that the fight was over.

"Daiki!"

Kasumi and Tatsuya were worried about the condition of their friend and so when Itona Sensei officially declared the battle over they raced to Daiki's side.

Unlike Kasumi, Neji did nothing to assist his defeated opponent and instead casually walked away as his perceived rival raced to her injured friend with tears in her eyes. These two victories satisfied the Hyuga and even caused a small, and condescending, smile to form on his lips.

Kasumi and Tatsuya helped Daiki to his feet and helped him limp back to the classroom where they could try to patch him up before Itona Sensei came. There was only one more fight left and then it would be the end of the Academy day, but the trio weren't excited for the end of school today. It had been a long time since they had been this silent. It surprised everyone, including Itona who was standing outside the doorway to the room, when Kasumi was the one to break the suffocating silence with her tears.

"I'm sorry,"

Kasumi had just finished bandaging the slash on Daiki's shoulder while Tatsuya held some ice to his friend's injured knee and Katsu sat comfortably on his master's lap. Now that Kasumi's hand were no longer busy helping her friend they were now covering her eyes. Tears were escaping the prison of her hands and fleeing down her cheeks to then drip onto and create tear stains on her pants.

"I'm so sorry,"

The boys didn't know what to do. Mainly because they hadn't realised what Kasumi was going on about.

"Kasumi. It's all good. I'm fine,"

Daiki may not have understood what was going on but he was going to do whatever he could to calm the distraught Yamanaka down.

"I'm so sorry,"

It wasn't working.

Tatsuya had yet to say anything, as he still hadn't figured out what Kasumi was going on about. Luckily Itona Sensei stepped in. Without saying anything he checked Daiki's injuries, gave Katsu to Tatsuya, got Daiki onto his feet, picked the sobbing Yamanaka up in his arms and walked out of the classroom with the two boys following.

Itona knew a little bit about what was happening with Kasumi's family problems and also knew about the closer relationship she had with her friends' families. Still without a single word Itona left Daiki and Tatsuya to take the young Yamanaka to the Inuzuka compound. When Nami heard a knock on her door, not realising the time and not paying too much attention to what was going on, she thought it was Daiki coming home and ignored it. It wasn't until the second set of knocking that Nami responded with a yell.

"Hurry up Daiki! Come in!"

Another knock at the door suddenly dispelled Nami's drowsiness and made her way to the door, very clearly confused. When the opening of the door revealed the crying Yamanaka and silent teacher Nami became sombre and silent. Both adults seemed to have the same belief that any sound from them could make the young girl's condition worse. The Inuzuka woman took Kasumi from Itona and then before she turned to walk back inside he held out a bit of paper. Nami took the paper hesitantly, nodded and then continued to go back inside her house. Kasumi was still sobbing but the safety of Nami's arms soothed her a bit. Even though it was only a little bit, barely noticeable, it was something. A positive sign.

* * *

Tatsuya and Daiki made their way to the Shiota residence, as they always did, after Itona Sensei had disappeared with Kasumi. It was a slow and silent trip with Daiki's injuries and Kasumi's breakdown being the reasons. When they did get to Tatsuya's house they stood on the doorstep for several minutes. Neither of them wanted to move and neither wanted to speak. Their minds were working frantically thinking about all the things that had happened that day. Then Suzuka opened the door.

"Tatsuya! Daiki! How long have you two been there?! Never mind! Come in!"

Suzuka led the boys inside but had yet to notice their silence and saddened expressions.

"I was wondering what was taking you lot so long. How was your day? … Where is Kasumi?"

It had taken a little bit but the Shiota mother had finally asked the right question. She wasn't going to get an answer though, only another question.

"Can we go to Daiki's?"

These were the first words either boy had spoken since Itona Sensei had entered the room back at the Academy. Tatsuya had forgotten to use his manners but his mother ignored this as she now focused on the tone of her son's voice and the miserable expressions on the faces of the two boys. Suzuka herself quietened down after discovering this and in a quiet voice gave the boys permission. After a quick hug and kiss for both Daiki and Tatsuya she led both back to the door and bid them good bye as they made another slow and quiet journey down the street. Suzuka made a note to herself to ask Tatsuya about what had happened that day. About Daiki's injuries and Kasumi's absence. Before the boys made it too far down the street Suzuka had one last thing she needed to tell them.

"Tatsuya! You can stay at the Inuzuka's if you want! Just come by in the morning on your way to the Academy!"

She got a small turn of the head and a wave in acknowledgement. She hoped that everything was going to be okay for the trio. She knew that Daiki and Kasumi had problems in their lives. She just hoped that both children could come to her for help if they needed it. Suzuka had spoken to Nami a couple of times and knew that Daiki had good support from his family but Kasumi had none of that. Fortunately Kasumi now had Nami and Suzuka as substitute mothers in the hateful absence of her own neglectful biological mother.


	14. 13 - To Become Stronger

Daiki and Tatsuya eventually made it to the front door of the Inuzuka's house. There was still silence and with the time of this further extending they crossed the threshold to find Nami and Kasumi. The duo of females were sitting on the back porch. Two cups of untouched tea were next to them and the young Yamanaka was currently curled up in the lap of the Inuzuka mother asleep. Kasumi's head rested on Nami's shoulder while Nami rocked gently backwards and forwards. It was a sad atmosphere. Nami turned her head as she heard the two boys open the back door and said duo proceeded to sit either side of the already seated pair. There was still an empty silence. It hung over the group like a depressing mist and only thickened as Daiki and Tatsuya noticed the still fresh tear stains on Kasumi's cheeks.

Nothing happened that afternoon. Few things were spoken. The sleeping Yamanaka was placed on the couch and wasn't woken until dinner was ready. Daiki and Tatsuya sat with Nami as she gave a brief explanation as to why Kasumi was upset. Kasumi knew that she was the reason why Neji beat Daiki up so bad. She felt guilty. She finally had friends but wasn't able to protect them. Instead she was the reason they got hurt. One of the reasons why she was hesitant to become friends with the two boys to begin with was because she knew that she would eventually get hurt, she just wasn't aware that it would be from guilt and concern for these friends. After everything Daiki and Tatsuya had done for her all she wanted to do was repay them and their families and instead causes all of this. She couldn't bear it. But she wouldn't be alone at least. Nami was determined to convince the Yamanaka to stay for as long as she wanted and at the very least the night. The same thing was said to Tatsuya and with a quick and positive response it was settled. The trio would remain together another night and this time back at the Inuzuka's. This then began to cause great concern in the Inuzuka mother. Kasumi may have gone unnoticed by her family for a single night but three in a row would certainly not go unpunished if the head of the Yamanaka clan and his wife were as bad as Kasumi hinted at in some of her more personal stories. All that would just have to wait until tomorrow. Tonight Nami was going to make a delicious dinner and ensure that the atmosphere for the night was joyous with smiles all around. If Nami succeeded in her goal then little Kasumi would forget about today and about her impending reunion with her family, every present would. Nami would succeed. She was just that stubborn.

"Boys! Dinner!"

The sudden loud noise after a whole afternoon of silence scared the Inuzuka and Shiota children and even caused Kasumi to stir from her spot on the couch. Nami walked pass both boys and ruffled their hair as she made her way to the still half asleep Yamanaka to then gently wake her the rest of the way.

"Come on Kasumi. Dinner is ready. Come on,"

The dinner started slow and silently as the children obviously didn't have the same hopes for a happy night as the adult did. The girls sat on one side of the table and the boys on the other, with the two Inuzukas facing each other and their ninken on the floor at that end of the table. Katsu had not left the boys' side while Yusei had been put in charge of keeping an eye on the despairing girl. They both devoured their food after having to put up with the numerous emotional people around them but said people were not as passionate about food as the two canines appeared to be this evening.

"What are you lot going to get up to tonight? I'm sure we can think of something ridiculous, stupid and fun to play. Last time didn't we talk about that blindfolded drawing game to see who really the worst artist was? Daiki? Kids?"

"Thanks Nami but I'm not really in the mood for anything like that,"

"Kasumi. You can't be sad forever,"

"Challenge accepted,"

Daiki and Tatsuya couldn't hold in their laughter at the serious way their friend said this. It was extremely contagious as the whole table was howling with laughter seconds later, even Yusei and Katsu were barking along with them. Kasumi may have been the last of the group to join in the laughter but she eventually had to give in and lose her challenge. The rest of the night went along with a much more cheerful nature to it. Just as Nami wanted it. They did end up playing blind artist and discovered that neither Inuzuka had any skill and Kasumi and Tatsuya were deemed the victors. They played a few more weird games that had no real purpose then to make them laugh and enjoy themselves. This then led to the trio of children to go to sleep that night with smiles on their faces and faded sadness surrounding the previous events of that day. They would have to face it all tomorrow but that was a good night's sleep away and could wait until morning to be worried about. A peaceful sleep was much more important right now.

* * *

"Kids!"

Nami got quite a shock when she entered the room that the children had slept the night in but not as much as said children by the loud and unexpected sound that passed the Inuzuka woman's lips that morning. The trio were very startled by their sudden morning wakeup call as they bolted into a seated position almost simultaneously and the cute, confused expressions on their faces caused Nami to give a small chuckle before continuing on with her reason for rudely waking them.

"You three aren't going to the Academy today. No arguments. I'll explain later,"

They were still a little bit asleep and so the only response Nami received was a small head nod from Kasumi as the child proceeded to rub the large amount of sleep from her eyes. Nami only then noticed the extremely frazzled nature of the young girl's hair which elicited another chuckle from the Inuzuka woman. Kasumi was also the first one to leave the warm embrace of her blankets and make her way to the bathroom to get ready for the day and get changed into clean clothes. Once again she was wearing borrowed Inuzuka clothes that Nami had given her. Kasumi liked this style of clothing better than her usual one. The Yamanaka attire had bright colours and the shirts would gradually get longer until they became dresses with pants worn underneath. Kasumi never understood the practicality of this and basically she just hated it. The Inuzuka style was earthen colours of shades of grey ranging from black and usually never getting to white they also always wore shorts, even the girls once they became older, very rarely were there skirts or fancy clothing. It was practical. It suited Kasumi. She liked it.

When everyone was once again seated at the dinner table ready to have breakfast and start the day Nami gave an explanation as promised.

"You lot will spend the day here. Training,"

"Really?!"

"Yep. I have the day off today; no missions or paperwork. So I decided that after what you three went through yesterday I would spend the day training you. You all do want to become stronger, don't you?"

There was a chorus of agreement from the children and the atmosphere became excited. The food was inhaled and everyone was outside ready for the day of training and hard work to begin. Daiki, Tatsuya and Kasumi knew that Nami was going to push them to their limits but they were prepared for that and were still optimistic that the day would be enjoyable nonetheless. They each wanted to get stronger for their own reasons. Kasumi wanted to be able to protect Daiki and Tatsuya in the future and was starting to think about leaving her family and joining this real family that had appeared before her and she knew she would need a lot of strength, both physical and emotional, to be able to gain the courage to do this. Daiki and Tatsuya both wanted to be able to protect Kasumi, the day before they had to watch helplessly as their friend cried uncontrollably and they had no power to help her. Then Daiki wanted to be as good as his brother and Tatsuya wanted to prove to his parents that he could make it as a shinobi and would always return safe from his missions so that they didn't have to worry about their only child.

They each had their reasons and they were all to do with family.

They were also correct about the day being hard.

Nami quickly went to the Shiota residence and informed Suzuka and Hiroki that Tatsuya would be staying with her for the day and another night, if it was alright with them. She also told them not to worry if someone came around wondering why their son wasn't at the Academy today as Nami was going to personally train the kids. She gave them a brief summary of what happened yesterday as Suzuka had been worrying most of the previous afternoon and night about the depressed expressions on Daiki and Tatsuya's faces as well as the absence of Kasumi. After Nami went on this errand she came home and began the rigorous schedule she had come up with the previous night once she had decided she would help these three children as much as she possibly could to reach each of their respective goals.

For two hours they went through various stretches. Daiki had the greatest advantage out of the trio as his mother would go through a couple of them with him in the mornings if they had a bit of time before he went to the Academy or she had to go on patrol or a mission. Kasumi could only remember the basics that she had been taught before she became rejected by her family and Tatsuya had no experience whatsoever outside of the Academy. Basically this meant that they were in various levels of pain after this period of time. Kasumi was a bit more flexible than the others but Daiki had a lot more experience which meant they had roughly equal amounts of pain while Tatsuya could barely move. Tatsuya was going to have the hardest time out of the trio but this just showed that he had the most determination out of the group as well.

They were only given a 10 minute break to rest and properly hydrate. Then they spent another two hours going through different techniques for punches, kicks and dodges. This had similar results to the first couple of hours but Kasumi was a bit weaker than the boys in terms of strength and so she was as tired as Tatsuya by the end of it. They then had another short break before doing only an hour of weapons training. This served as almost another break even though it still left their arms sore and the three of them were equally tired after this. Kasumi excelled in the group in this area, she knew that she may not be as strong as the boys so she was going to do her best in all the other areas of fighting. Daiki needed the most improvement but Tatsuya actually enjoyed this more than the taijutsu.

So five and a half hours later and the day was creeping to mid-afternoon with Nami having helped them in most areas of fighting. She only had a couple more to go and then she would call it a day and praise Daiki, Tatsuya and Kasumi for their hard work, resilience, determination and dedication. They would practise actual fighting in one-on-one battles and then in a group against the Inuzuka woman. After this there was only the chakra element of battle that was needed to be covered and that didn't have to be any more than meditation which would also serve as a wind down from the rigorous training of the day. That was the schedule Nami had for the remainder of the day.

The one-on-one fights only went on for about half an hour as the children didn't really have the heart to attack each other with their full strength, or at least the full strength they could muster in their exhausted conditions anyway. It was the group fight that got interesting. Yusei had taken Katsu for the day to teach him a few things and upon the return of the canine pair Katsu then joined the trio and would participate in their fight against Nami while Yusei sat it out in the shade of a tree to observe.

This group fight was going to push the children as far past their limits as possible. Nami purposefully left this until last for two reasons. One, to allow the children to learn a few more tricks for the fight and second, to make sure they were tired. She certainly succeeded in both of these as the children could barely stand at the moment. This was going to be her greatest lesson for them today. In a real fight you could be hungry, sleep deprived and exhausted to the point of death. This actually happened surprisingly often. All the children had been given today was breakfast, a few short breaks and a bit of water and Nami had also woken them up as the sun rose. At the moment they would be hungry, sleepy and exhausted and now they were going to be expected to fight a jonin rank kunoichi.

There were now five of them in clearing. They had been in this clearing for the entire day. This clearing's purpose was usually reserved for training and was located near Nami's house. There were a few such clearings dotted around the Inuzuka compound and they all looked much the same. Trees only lines one side of the clearing and there were few bushes amongst these but a few more that lined the criss-crossing paths. The ground was more dirt than grass and the numerous paths that led to other places within the compound were dirt as well with lush, green grass lining these as well as the occasion shrub. The many exercises the children had done throughout the day had turned the dirt of the ground into quite the lovely marble pattern. The top layer of lighter coloured sand had been kicked up in places to reveal the darker dirt underneath, the occasional gentle breeze also moved the sand around to make the appear more liquid than solid. Kasumi, Daiki and Tatsuya may have noticed this if they weren't currently panicking at the thought of battling the string and very dangerous mother.

Kasumi, Daiki, Katsu and Tatsuya stood off against the fierce Nami. The faces of the three children were already glistening with sweat from the day's work and nerves which was also reflected in their heavier than normal breathing. Their clothes were dirty and there were tiny patches of dried blood on their knuckles. The children were scared. They knew that Nami was going to go hard on them, she had said so herself, by the end of it none of the children would be able to stand, that was what she declared. Now all that was left was for someone to make the first move, and Nami knew the children still didn't have the guts to do it as they were still scared of accidentally hurting her.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you too much and you won't be able to hurt me too bad. Trust me. You need to attack me as if you wanted to kill me and fight as if I was going to kill you. Fight as if you are shinobi!"

Without another warning Nami attacked. She didn't give any time for them to strategize, a real enemy wouldn't give them time so neither would she. This fight was all about making them stronger; the whole day had been about making them stronger. That was what they had wanted and Nami would do everything in her power to make it a reality for these children. Only Daiki was her own child but all of them had a place under her roof and in her arms.

With that she kicked Kasumi hard enough in the abdomen as to cause her to double over in pain. Daiki and Tatsuya were barely able to register what was happening before Nami disappeared from sight and all Kasumi could think about was how much she _couldn't breathe!_ The blow hadn't broken any bones or caused any internal damage, Nami ensured that, but it would be difficult for Kasumi to breathe for the next few moments and the panic from this breathlessness would cloud her judgement. She also wanted to see how Daiki and Tatsuya would react to this. If they wanted to protect their friend as badly as they claimed then they may actually attack Nami with the intent to kill after this.

Tatsuya held the wheezing and coughing Kasumi by the shoulders as Daiki and Katsu got to work on finding the other Inuzuka. The tracking ability of the human-canine duo meant that they were more qualified for this role out of the group. It didn't meant that Nami would make it easy for them.

"T-ee…"

"Don't try to speak! Just get your breath back,"

"T-r…"

"Don't-! Tee? Tr? Tree? Tree! Daiki! Look in the trees! It's the only lace she could be!"

"Got it!"

"N-n-o…"

It was exhausting trying to speak but more importantly it hurt! Nami didn't intend for Kasumi to be able to speak at all after her hit, she planned for the boys to try and figure things out for themselves and not rely on the girl. The Inuzuka woman didn't plan on the determination of the Yamanaka girl. But all the determination in the world couldn't convey all of Kasumi's warnings and plans to the boys. She wanted to warn them that Nami was in the trees but to tell them that she would likely attack from that direction not to be so reckless as to charge in after her with no support or plan.

The boys didn't get the last part of the message.

Daiki and Katsu continued their charge into the line of trees at the side of the clearing, only to quickly be thrown back out again by Nami's brutal assault. Now Tatsuya was the only one standing and able to fight at the moment, and it had only been a couple of seconds since the fight began. If they thought that the fight would end shortly they were gravely mistaken. Nami would keep throwing punches and kicks and turn the children black and blue before she lets them off this easily.

It was Tatsuya's turn now. What decisions would he make?

Nami was hardly going to give him time to think about this. Instincts needed to be trained just as much as any other skill. Instinct; impulsive fighting without thinking, could be the thing that saves your life when all the energy has left your body and your mind refuses to work.

Then Tatsuya too was sent flying when a leg collided with his stomach but he did do one thing right, he let go of Kasumi before he was sent rolling across the dirt. Kasumi still didn't have all of her breath back but that wasn't about to stop her. When Tatsuya had let go of her shoulders she crumpled to her knees with her head still bowed trying to desperately give more oxygen to her body. But from this position she was then able to grab a hold of Nami's still outstretched leg from when she had attacked the Shiota. With Nami's leg Kasumi was able to swing and over it so that her own legs were now at the same level as the Inuzuka woman's head. It may have surprised Nami that Kasumi was able to move in her current condition but that didn't mean that Nami was taken off guard by the sloppy attack. Nami only needed one hand to grab Kasumi's legs, after pulling her own leg closer to her body Nami was then able to use her other hand to grab Kasumi's arms. This only took a second and it only took another for Nami to throw Kasumi across the clearing. After this all three children were spread across the dirt clearing. Nami had succeeded in separating the group and would hopefully teach them another lesson. They have to stick together. When Daiki had left Kasumi and Tatsuya to follow her into the trees with Katsu he had made a huge mistake.

None of the children stirred for a few minutes and in this time Nami gave them a few more tips and pointers. They needed to learn.

"Daiki! You left an injured teammate behind to go after me by yourself! It doesn't matter if Tatsuya was looking after her! How was he going to hold her up and fight me off if I had decided to attack them again?! And you should never separate from your group without backup! That is why teams are made into four man squads so that if you do need to split up you will at least have one other person with you! Understood?!"

Nami didn't usually believe in humiliation as a teaching tactic but she was going to make an exception in this case. Inuzuka's worked as teams; they had packs. To endanger the pack was one of the worst things you could do besides actually attacking them yourself.

These young children were going to receive nothing but criticism until the sun went down! Nami didn't want them getting full of themselves in the middle of the battle but hoped that trying to redeem themselves to serve as a better motivator.

Once Kasumi, Daiki and Tatsuya had gotten back on their feet, however unsteadily, Nami began her assault again. Daiki was going to be her first target this round. If it wasn't for Kasumi's interference.

"Daiki! Trees!"

This moved the Inuzuka boy away from his mother who was going to attack from the opposite side to the trees.

"Katsu! Go to Tatsuya!"

Nami was stationary in her position where Daiki use to be and wondering what the Yamanaka girl could be planning. Her curiosity made her immobile for a while. She wasn't going to interfere until they had their plan in motion. She had to give them some sort of chance in this fight. Now Daiki was in the sparse forest and Kasumi was standing in front of it. Katsu was now with Tatsuya directly opposite their friends.

"Keep her busy!"  
With that Kasumi jumped backwards into the trees to meet up with Daiki. Nami was truly shocked this time. She expected the kids to want to stick together after the rant she had at Daiki a few moments ago. It still didn't mean she was going to hesitate long. But as she went to go after Daiki and Kasumi the other two came up behind her.

Not that it was going to be a problem for the kunoichi.

Nami kicked her leg out at Tatsuya but not before Katsu ran between her legs. When Katsu had gone to Tatsuya he had passed Kasumi and she had given him a bit of ninja wire. One end of this was currently in the tiny mouth of the small ninken and the other end was in Tatsuya's hand. As Nami was kicking Tatsuya the wire was being wrapped around her grounded leg. This meant that when Tatsuya was inevitably sent flying, so was the Inuzuka.

This gave the other pair just enough time needed to finish the rest of their plan. With Nami distracted Kasumi was able to tell Daiki specifically what he needed to do and just hoped that Tatsuya would understand his part. They were only going to get anywhere by catching the experienced shinobi off guard. A near impossible task but something they were determined to do.

Once they were finished, Daiki and Kasumi dashed back into the clearing to get the rest of their team and to draw Nami into the trees where their traps were waiting. Kasumi threw two kunai simultaneously. One landed on each side of Nami and the ninja wire ties between them would be what would hopefully slow her down enough for them to even make it back to the trees before she attacked them again. While that was going on Daiki helped Tatsuya up and Kasumi scooped Katsu up into her arms.

"Run!"

Even though it was an obvious move it still felt like it needed to be said. With this command from Kasumi they were all heading to the trees and Nami was cutting herself out of the temporary binds.

"Tatsuya. Stay with Daiki. We have a couple of traps set up,"

"Do you think it will work?"  
"Honestly? No. But we have to try. There's nothing else we can do,"  
Long story short. None of the traps worked.

Nami entered the trees, spotted all of their traps, avoided them and then proceeded to once again kick the butts of the three young children. Kasumi, Tatsuya and Daiki were then dragged out into the clearing and attempted some taijutsu before gradually collapsing one by one from exhaustion.

Nami wasn't breaking a sweat or had received a single hit but that didn't mean that the trio had failed.

Nami was extremely proud of all of them.

They had all become stronger.


	15. 14 - Going Home

"Kids!"

Just because the trio had spent the entire day training didn't mean that Nami Inuzuka was going to take it easy on them. Kasumi, Daiki and Tatsuya had a long day ahead of them. They not only were still recovering from the day before but then had to attend the Academy as well as do catch-up work from what they had missed while doing their intensive training. They were not excited. The loud volume of the wake-up call was not appreciated either.

"NO!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

The children ganged up on and argued with the Inuzuka mother but in doing so woke themselves up to the point of no longer having an excuse for going back to sleep. It didn't mean that they would stop trying but it also led to Nami dragging each child out of their bad and into the kitchen one by one. By the time she had finished with the boys and was going to get Kasumi the young Yamanaka had already brushed her dishevelled hair and gotten changed into yet another pair of borrowed Inuzuka clothes. Kasumi had come to quickly love the style of clothes that the Inuzuka's wore. She loved that they didn't feel it necessary for the girls to wear some sort of dress overtop of their shorts or pants. The Inuzukas accepted that girls could just wear a shirt and pants and that they didn't need anything else to make them look 'feminine'. It wasn't like it made a difference on the battlefield anyway. For some reason some of the other clans, including the Yamanakas, didn't quite see it this way which meant that Kasumi was always forced to wear things that she didn't want to. Kasumi wasn't looking forward to going back to wearing the stupid pink dress her mother made her wear. Airi knew Kasumi hated pink as well which made the torture for the young girl even worse. Oh well. There wasn't much Kasumi could do about it except enjoy the reprieve she has lucky enough to have at the moment and for the past few days.

Eventually all three children and Katsu, who had been hiding while his partner and Tatsuya were captured by Nami and had to be coaxed out by Kasumi afterwards, were sitting around the dining room table.

"Eat up you lot. I'll never let you hear the end of it if you're all late for the Academy today. Hurry up and get ready,"

The Inuzuka woman had already prepared breakfast and lunches for Kasumi, Daiki and Tatsuya and with her good-natured threat there was little discussion at the table as the children inhaled their food. Soon afterwards Daiki and Tatsuya raced off to finish getting ready while Kasumi was going to get started on the dishes for Nami as she was already prepared for the day. But there was a reason why Nami had left Kasumi to last when dragging the children out of bed and allowed the girl to get ready before breakfast. Nami was concerned for Kasumi. They needed to talk.

"Kasumi,"

"I was just getting started on the dishes. Is that okay?"

"Of course dear but we need to have a bit of a talk and I thought it would be better to have it without the boys around,"

"Okay…?"

Kasumi confusedly questioned Nami but this confusion transformed into concern as the words from the Inuzuka started to sink in.

"Kasumi. Will you be going home tonight?"

"…Yeah…I guess…Maybe…,"

"How long have you been gone?"

"I think it has been…four days? Yeah. I stayed at your place and then with the Shiotas for a night and then I have been here for another two nights. So four,"

It was Nami's turn to be concerned and she did little to hide this from being displayed on her face. She gently placed her hands on the shoulders of the 9 year old and knelt down to the child's height as well.

"Will you be alright?"

This was said in all seriousness but still in a gentle voice and soothing tone.

"Sure,"

The voice of confidence and large smile would have fooled a civilian, but not an observant shinobi. Nevertheless Nami knew she couldn't interfere. She didn't want to create any clan tension. If it wasn't the daughter of the head of the Yamanaka clan then she may have been able to do something but in this situation she had little power. The only way this would be solved would be if Kasumi did it herself or her own choice. Nami just hoped that Kasumi would find the strength to do it eventually and before she suffered any more damage. There was only so much a child could bare, even if they were raised to become a shinobi. They were still a child. If Nami talked to Inoichi about Kasumi it could cause trouble. If Nami kept Kasumi here it could eventually cause trouble. If the confidence that Kasumi was faking now could become real, then the trouble would be nothing compared with the reward.

"Okay,"

With a whisper and a slight nod Nami ended to conversation just as Daiki and Tatsuya bolted back down the hallway looking more dishevelled then they had when they left the room a few minutes before. At least it gave Nami something else to think about. Even after she had made the boys look a bit more presentable and waved the children off to the Academy the concern for the brunette Yamanaka was still present in the back of her mind and remained there for the rest of the day.

* * *

Kasumi, Daiki and Tatsuya didn't really have any friends besides each other. Occasionally someone may talk to them briefly. Sometimes they may receive compliments or insults. Basically nobody really went out of their way to converse with the trio. This meant that when the three of them rocked up to the Academy after a day of absence no one made too much of a fuss about it, at least not enough to vocalise it. Itona Sensei didn't say anything about it either but that was because Nami had informed him of her intentions the day before. So when Kasumi, Daiki and Tatsuya arrived at the Academy to start the day they silently made their way to their usual seats as if everything was normal and nothing unusual had happened at all over the past couple of days. Nothing much had happened anyway. They just had their asses kicked continuously over the two days and could barely move; nothing much.

Except there was someone else who was not ready to let go of the fact that the trio had been away the day before. Especially since he had defeated them the day before they disappeared.

When classes finished for the first break Kasumi, Daiki and Tatsuya went to their spot by the tree. They planned on relaxing before they had the physical lesson of the day. No use taking a day off school only to be unable to do anything for the next few days. Hopefully they wouldn't be made to do too many laps, the trio could barely walk let alone run. It wasn't destined to be very relaxing though and the person who did the interrupting wouldn't have cared if they needed rest or not, in fact he would have enjoyed knowing that he was causing pain and displeasure to Daiki, Tatsuya and, especially, Kasumi.

"Why were you away yesterday? Crying over losing? You cry-babies,"

"Take that back!"

Being exhausted was not about to stop Daiki from beating up someone who not only insulted him but, more importantly, insulted his friends. Luckily his friends had the mind to hold him back from getting into a fight that he would have no chance in winning, they had faith he could win just certainly not in the condition he was currently in.

"What do you want Neji?"

"I want you to admit that I kicked your ass and that was why you were away sulking yesterday,"

"You shouldn't say 'ass',"  
The smart comment from Tatsuya caused the Hyuga to round on the civilian boy so fast that his long brown hair whipped into his own face. Neji recovered quite well from this but instead of coming across as intimidating he only caused his victims to snicker, chuckle and giggle.

"Doesn't change the fact that you weren't here yesterday,"

"Neji,"

Kasumi didn't want to start a fight and would much rather have someone that hated her rather than an enemy. There was a slight difference between the two and mainly she just wanted less trouble.

"What?!"

Neji was slightly losing his cool but this time when he turned his head he was able to avoid the same hair disaster he accomplished last time. The Hyuga was now facing the Yamanaka and the two were complete opposites. Neji's calm façade was slowly breaking apart at not being taken seriously by the trio of losers and more importantly at not getting them to admit that he was their superior. Kasumi was still really tired from the training the day before and really couldn't care about what Neji believed or said. The only reason why she was saying anything was so that Daiki, who had far too much energy after what the trio had been forced to endure, didn't start an unnecessary fight.

"You did beat Daiki yesterday-"

"I knew-!"

"So we spent yesterday training,"

"…What?"

"You beat us so we became stronger. It's as simple as that,"

Daiki was the only one who had gone to stand up but had been pulled back down by Tatsuya and Kasumi when Neji had fist shown up and since then none of them could be bothered to get up. Until Kasumi made her peace offering. The Yamanaka stood up, faced Neji and offered him her hand.

"How about we both just work on becoming stronger?"  
"Why would I care about you?"

"If you didn't care then you wouldn't be here right now wanting us to admit that you are better. I'm saying instead of worrying about who is better out of the four of us we just agree to become better ourselves. Wouldn't it be boring to win every fight and not have any competition at all?"

"You think you are competition?"

Neji didn't accept her hand and left after his last statement without even waiting for an answer. The fact that he left without causing a scene meant that Kasumi had won but she was graceful enough to not make a comment about it while Tatsuya had to hold a hand over Daiki's mouth to stop him from making that mistake and agitate the still delicate situation.

Kasumi was able to sit down and relax for two seconds before another visitor came over to talk. The trio were extremely popular today, no one ever came over to talk to them during the break. Ever. It was only ever in class when they were half forced to.

"Hello Kasumi!"

It was a female this time. The girl's hair was brown, almost the same colour as Kasumi's, and it was put up into two buns on the top of her head. The volume in her voice, probably to stop it from coming out as a squeak, did little to hide the shyness and awkwardness the young girl was radiating in waves.

"Hello TenTen!"

Kasumi knew it would have taken a lot of courage for the orphan girl to come up and talk to a group by herself. Kasumi quite liked TenTen but was always socially awkward herself and if it wasn't for Daiki and Tatsuya's persistence she would have remained a loner. TenTen had a lot more courage than she had; still has. Maybe TenTen needed someone to be her Daiki and Tatsuya. Maybe it was time Kasumi got a friend that was a female? Maybe.

"Great fight the other day!"

"Thanks! You too…um…that's why I came to talk to you…you did great…would-"

Kasumi waited patiently for the other girl to continue and Tatsuya kept his hand over Daiki's mouth.

"Would you please help me!"

The trio were taken back by the sudden yell that came from the slight girl and the visible recoil did nothing to ease TenTen either.

"Um…Please?"

"Sure!"

Sometimes all that was needed was a genuine smile. Kasumi had certainly gotten better at this. After all, she now had reasons to truly smile.

"Would you like some tips? Just promise not to share them with any of the boys. I hear that we will have mixed fights next year,"

"Yes. Yes! Of course! Yes! Thank you!"

Kasumi didn't have to get up and was instead tackled where she sat by the other brunette.

Yeah. Maybe.

* * *

That afternoon after the Academy finished Kasumi said good-bye to Daiki, Tatsuya, and Katsu and, now, TenTen at the entrance to the symbolic Konoha building they had spent the day learning in. It was about time that the Yamanaka took control of her courage and finally went back home to face her biological family. If she didn't do it now she may chicken out and never do it. She didn't want to do it but it was just something that had to be done. No matter how unpleasant.

The farewell was hesitant and it took more than one attempt to detach TenTen from her new friend. After that it was a case of one foot in front of the other as Kasumi trudged towards her clan's compound. She would have preferred to see Suzuka and pay a visit to the store to catch up with Runa. She couldn't be distracted. She couldn't even hope right now. She could only prepare herself for the worst afternoon of her life that she knew she was inevitably drawing closer and closer to with every step. It was a terrible feeling. Knowing something bad was going to happen but walking willingly into it anyway.

You could only do your best. You could only do what you could do. You could only do what needs to be done.

The entrance to the Yamanaka compound came into sight far too quickly. When Kasumi came to the familiar doors she felt even more scared than before. It was becoming a bit too real. These great wooden doors were never locked, unless in the case of a village lockdown or emergency which rarely happened in these peaceful times. It was more of a symbol of where the Yamanaka compound started then to actually keep people out.

What would her parents have to say about her absence? What would they do? Would they be really angry? Would they have even noticed? Would they care?

All of these questions scared the little girl. She was petrified to the point of being unable to cross her own threshold into her own home. It wasn't until another clan member came up behind her and opened the doors that Kasumi was urged through the entrance. She couldn't stand outside forever. The next clan member may not be as patient as this one or as nice. Kasumi didn't want to become a bigger target than she already was.

A few forced and surprisingly polite words were exchanged before the two Yamanakas parted ways. The entrance doors led into a small courtyard which had sheltered passageways going to varying parts of the clan compound. Some would go to the training fields, others the gardens and also the residential housing for the clan members. These houses were the closest buildings to the doors as most outsiders that came into the compound were there to visit friends, or even relatives. There weren't many rules and there were no conditions of entry. No one was posted at the doors as the wandering Yamanaka shinobi would notice and report anything suspicious. All that was expected of visitors was that there was no fighting or use of jutsu or weapons outside of the allocated training areas. No one wanted damaged buildings, understandably.

While the other Yamanaka went in the direction of these fields Kasumi wandered slowly down the hallways towards the house she shared with her father, mother and twin sister. The pathway opened up into another large courtyard type area but this time instead of a stone floor there was just a large clearing of lush grass that was, of course, rimmed with garden beds filled with all sorts of local, and even non-native, flora. The houses were quite spaced apart and each had its own little dirt path leading up to it. Except Kasumi's house. That had its own paved pathway leading to it as it was the Yamanaka clan head's household so if there were any special visitors they were likely to go there, or another specialised building closer to the entrance to the compound. The pathway obviously led to the front door but it was the back door that seemed to be used the most as it was facing the general direction of the majority of the clan's clearings, small forests and some training fields. So if any shinobi were coming to see Inoichi they often knocked on the back door and ended up talking on the back veranda. The front door was usually only used for people that were a bit unfamiliar with the family or not fully acquainted at least, or if it was their first visit, or when someone from the family was leaving to head into the village.

Basically, Kasumi should have used the back door but that implied a sense of familiarity and that she would be welcomed.

So Kasumi walked along the path and made her way to the front door and knocked on it. This announced her arrival as if she was a complete stranger.

It wasn't far off.

Kasumi always felt weird saying her last name let alone call this house her home. But technically it was and, being so young, there was nothing much she could do about it. Especially since she belonged to not only a ninja clan but was the daughter of its leader. In this case she had no hope. At least until she graduated and became an accomplished and recognised kunoichi. Then no one would be able to stop her from taking her life back.

No one.

Ever.

She would ensure that.

But that power and confidence wasn't with the small girl at the moment and Kasumi was reminded of this as her mother answered the door. At first Airi was confused as she wasn't expecting anyone let alone a visitor at the front, and usually unused, door but once she inclined her head downwards and got a good view of the small child her expression turned to one of anger and displeasure.

Airi was usually a very proud and pretty woman but when her face turned sour in the presence of her youngest daughter she was as beautiful as a monstrous demon form the pits of hell. Airi said no words to Kasumi. Merely turned her back on the young Yamanaka and walked back down the hallway. Kasumi was on the verge of tears and so kept her head down as she followed Airi inside. Kasumi should have been used to it but the only thing she had learned was that no matter how much she wanted to shed these tears she had to be strong, otherwise it would only make things worse.

"Where have you been?!"  
Kasumi couldn't tell whether Ino's loud and condescending snicker was genuine curiosity or merely an attempt to stir the pot even further. It didn't really matter though. Ino would win either way.

The hallway had taken the brunette pair to the living room where all four of the Yamanakas were now gathered. Inoichi was sitting on the couch and Airi had continued walking to stand behind him. Kasumi was trying to hide in the shadows of the hallway while Ino was on her feet in the middle of the room, hands on hips and a condescending look on her face. Her parents couldn't see it from where they were after all. She also wasn't happy about being made to wait by her younger twin sister.

"Answer me already!"

Kasumi didn't move from her flimsy sanctuary. Surprisingly it was Inoichi that moved and once away from his previous position on the couch he made his way towards Ino. Of course all she got was a gentle hand on the shoulder.

It reminded Kasumi of Nami…

"How about we all take a seat and then Kasumi can tell her story. I'm guessing it was a bit of an adventure?"

Of course the Yamanaka clan head would have been able to find out where his daughter was the moment he decided that he cared but from the sounds of it he hadn't revealed this to any of the others. Kasumi didn't know what this meant but gave it a few moments of thought as she followed her father's instructions and took a seat on the smaller chair opposite the couch the rest of her family was now gathered around. Airi was sitting as well now and Inoichi had retaken his spot next to her with Ino on his lap.

They looked like a family…complete…

If it wasn't for the near identical, sour expressions on both the mother and daughter's features it could have been taken as a family portrait.

"…I made some new friends…and…I was invited to stay for a few nights… …It was fun…"

Those last three words were whispered and Inoichi was probably the only one paying enough attention to catch what they were. The two females were too busy formulating their loud and unwanted replies to this.

"You think that is an acceptable excuse!"  
"You idiot!"

Inoichi was also the only one that didn't say anything.

"…but…"

Kasumi probably wasn't heard by anyone that time as Airi was finishing the rest of what she had to yell.

"You were gone for how many nights and you thought it would be alright if you didn't talk to us about it first! I don't care what your excuse is! Short of being kidnapped I don't care!"

Truthfully she wouldn't have cared anyway. She didn't do anything after all. She mustn't have been terribly worried.

"How about this! You will not be leaving this house for a week! Your friends will not be coming to see you! You will never stay with them again! You will not see them! Have I made myself clear!"

By this point Airi was on her feet and staring intently at Kasumi. One glance at the fierce hatred in the woman's eyes was enough to cause the girl to direct her gaze back to the blank comfort of the floor. Kasumi didn't have the strength to look at her mother or any of her other family and so definitely couldn't find the courage to remind her mother that she could still see her friends at the Academy. Besides, even if she did mention this Airi would probably find some evil and conniving way to remove Kasumi from the Academy and that would ruin the young Yamanaka's chances of becoming a kunoichi and breaking free from this prison called 'family' and this demon called 'mother'.

Yeah. Better to stay silent.

Kasumi may not have any of the numerous thoughts racing around inside her head into a single word but that didn't mean that Airi couldn't find something else to enrage her further.

"Look at me when I talk!"  
It wasn't the sudden increase in volume that caused Kasumi Yamanaka it was the fact that the words were also received along with an unnecessary strike to the face.

Kasumi had been on the verge of tears ever since she had decided to make her way to the Yamanaka compound and face her family and with each agonising step closer to the pain the tears had threatened more and more to make themselves clear and streak down her face in a fierce statement. This sudden and intense physical pain mixed in with her already stewing emotional turmoil and the statement was made. Unfortunately Kasumi had been correct in her earlier thought about it only making things worse. So as Airi's anger grew and grew Kasumi vainly hoped to look over to her father in between the slaps she was still receiving from her mother. Whether it was at the first slap or Kasumi's tears it was uncertain but Inoichi had removed himself and Ino from the situation and so when Kasumi looked over to the couch for help she was met with the sight of empty space.

This went on for a while and Kasumi knew that she had nowhere to go or to escape without causing even more trouble. After the initial shock of being hit Kasumi was able to keep her tears and emotions in check so that during the rest of the assault upon her face she was emotionless. By the end her tears had all dried up on her face as well. The rejected Yamanaka made her way back to her 'room'. The storage room that had been transformed into a very poor bedroom for the young girl had gotten worse in the short time she had been away and so she had to climb over a lot of things to get to her bed and then spend even more time clearing all of the junk off of it.

In the solitude that she then found herself in Kasumi was able to think about a few things.

One. She desperately need to find a way to escape.

Two. This meant that she needed to work even harder at the Academy.

Three. Her father had made his decision, and a very clear one at that, which he wouldn't ever be able to go back on now.


	16. 15 - Positivity

The solitude that Kasumi experienced within the confinement of her prison allowed her to think even more about her life. She certainly had the time for it. The next week for the young Yamanaka was spent in the compound of her room but after a few days it didn't bother her at all. It wouldn't help her at all to focus on the negatives so instead she tasked herself with remaining positive.

It was the only thing that would help to keep her sane.

Being separated from her friends meant that she would enjoy their company even more once she was allowed to go back to the Academy. Being locked away also meant that she had more time to study for the Academy and of course looked at a few more books on medicines and healing, it didn't matter if she didn't completely comprehend them to begin with it was always something she knew she would pick up eventually, so it wouldn't hurt to have a slim idea of the vocabulary. Being isolated from everybody else for a bit would also give her bruise time to heal.

Kasumi noticed the abnormality on her face the morning after the confrontation with her family and wasn't surprised at all by its appearance. It also gave her another idea. If she could just keep her head down from now on, then this was going to be the worst thing that happened. She was undoubtably going to receive more severe injuries in her future as a kunoichi and once she graduated from the Academy she no longer had to put up with this. That was her decision. As soon as she became an official ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village she was out of the Yamanaka Compound and was hopefully never going to have to return, and most certainly never have to step foot inside this horrible house ever again. Once she was a ninja she would be free to do whatever she wanted with no repercussions possibly being legitimate towards any who decided to support or help her.

It surprised Kasumi that it took her a week of solitude and a huge fight with her family after years of poor treatment on their behalf for her to realise what she really wanted from this life and how she was going to be able to get it. Her life was clear now. She had a plan. She could place one foot in front of the other and know exactly where she was going to go, and she knew that there would be at least a few people ready, willing and able to help her along this difficult journey.

She was happy.

After everything she had been through she had changed, and it most certainly wasn't for the worse.

* * *

This positive outlook didn't quite reach Daiki and Tatsuya, or even Nami. They were all anxious and worried for the young Yamanaka girl who had become their close friend when she didn't show up to the Academy. They had always feared that a confrontation with her family was possible, but they were afraid of just how big that fight was and as the time of not knowing extended the ideas of the outcome they conjured became more and more horrific for what they believed Kasumi had/was enduring.

Even breaks at the Academy were silent and they no longer spent time together after the school either. It wasn't the same without Kasumi. It was the not knowing that was tearing them up on the inside. However, four days later it became too much for the young Shiota.

"Daiki," It was in the quietest voice possible, but it was still loud enough for the Inuzuka to hear, after all there was no other sound as they still separated themselves from the rest of the class cohort.

"I don't want to talk about it," Even though he took his time with the response Daiki didn't hold back his frustration. The boys had hardly talked as it was and whenever words were exchanged it was always with Tatsuya's head down and Daiki's growl of anger and frustration.

"Daiki- "

"Enough!"  
And that concluded the conversation and the break. The boys made their way back to the classroom but instead of walking side by side, Tatsuya walked a few feet behind his friend.

* * *

Daiki and Tatsuya didn't walk home with each other that afternoon, Tatsuya purposefully waited a few minutes after the Inuzuka left before beginning his trek home. However, he didn't head home straight away. Even though every fibre of his being and every voice inside his head were telling him that what he was doing was most likely going to end in a fight or a confrontation, Tatsuya still made a detour past the Inuzuka compound.

He hoped that Daiki wouldn't answer but at the same time he wanted to see him as well. Confrontation made the civilian born uncomfortable, but he was more concerned with losing one of the only people who cared and believed in him, his parents didn't really fall into that last category. It was also a reason for why he was fidgeting in front of the Inuzuka's door, he wanted to help Kasumi and he desperately wanted to know that she was alright.

He didn't want another nightmare about Kasumi. He always had them whenever he knew she was home, or at least at the Yamanaka compound.

Tatsuya Shiota was very good at procrastinating and his inner thoughts were always a great help with this.

"I was wondering when you were going to move kid,"

Said kid jumped several feet up and backwards as Nami Inuzuka suddenly wrenched the door open.

"I'm occasionally an impatient woman and I don't appreciate loitering on my doorstep. Come on kid, I don't have all day,"

"I was about to knock,"

"I know. That's why I opened the door," Nami seemed quite proud of the mischief she caused, if she was going to accept Tatsuya and Kasumi as her new children then she was going to subject them to the same torment as she would to her own children and any other Inuzuka child within the compound.

"Do you want me to get Daiki for you?"  
"NO!…Yes!...No…Yes?" This uncertainty sent Nami into badly concealed chuckles.

"Why are you here Tatsuya?"  
"I'm worried about Kasumi…" These four mumbled words made the Inuzuka woman's signature smile disappear in an instant.

"I know kid,"

"MUM!"  
Both Nami and Tatsuya stopped looking at the ground as Daiki's voice came booming down the hallway.

"Come on in and stay for dinner. I'll let your parents know… We have a lot to talk about,"

Nami knew the boys were doing it tough without their friend and if the two of them were going to start fighting with each other then it was obviously time for the Inuzuka mother to step in.

With that Tatsuya crossed the Inuzuka threshold. Even though he had travelled the hallway many times he didn't feel at ease in that moment. He knew Daiki was waiting near the living room and he really didn't want to see his friend angry again. Daiki's face was all the confirmation of this belief that was necessary, the scowl showed his thoughts clearly.

* * *

Daiki didn't want to deal with Tatsuya's whinging, especially when he was trying to deal with his own concerns about Kasumi. He couldn't concentrate properly on training and so kept getting his ass handed to him by his 'caring' mother when they sparred, more so than usual anyway. This compounded the issue further. Physical and emotional pain just make the overall pain more unbearable. Not only was Daiki worried sick about Kasumi but half of his body was covered in bandages from when he had failed to dodge a very easy shot in his family training session the previous day. Thankfully most of the injuries were hidden under his clothing at the Academy and so it only appeared as if he had sustained a common amount of injuries from training. Anyway, the point was he was hurt and nobody was helping and he has to deal with everything himself and-

Daiki was just angry!

There was no other word for it.

He wasn't furious or annoyed or hurt. Pure and simple anger.

"What do you want?!"

Daiki was almost satisfied at the reaction he got from his coward of a friend, even if it was just a startled jump. It proved his dominance and leadership. It was Tatsuya's fault anyway for being caught off guard, staring at his wounds that weren't even serious more like some light bruising. Kasumi always said-

Says.

She isn't gone forever. Even if it feels that way. What would they do if she never came back? It is their fault if she did get hurt. How badly is she hurt? They need to go help her. How?

"Sorry!"

Now it was Daiki's turn to be caught off-guard and not by the meaning of the word that was spoken but just because he had been so immersed in his own thoughts. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately and it was impacting everything. His friend, family, studies and training. At this rate he was going to start going backwards.

Back to business.

"Mum! Why is he here?!"

"Stop complaining Daiki. You both need this,"  
Usually Daiki would flinch because Nami would hit him over the head for being rude or loud or something but now it was because the woman before him didn't look like his mother. The proud Inuzuka woman looked defeated and spoke as if her soul had been crushed. That was all it took for Daiki to forget his anger. It was the wake up call he needed. He wasn't the only one worried about Kasumi.

* * *

The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur. In short the two boys were told by an Inuzuka on the brink of tears to stop acting like children, did she remember how old they were?, and start acting like the proud shinobi they hoped to be one day. They needed to stop trying to ruin their friendship because they were both hurting and they should be supporting each other. After that they talked about Kasumi. No one had really spoken about her since she disappeared, it had become a taboo subject. If they said it out loud then it would make it real and no one wanted this to be real; it was just a bad dream, everything was going to be fine when they woke up. Only Nami had told them to stop waiting for that moment because this wasn't a dream and there was no waking up from it so they had to just grow up and deal with it.

Once that issue was settled it moved onto the more pressing issue of helping Kasumi. Now that he was on talking terms with Tatsuya again they were able to brainstorm how to help Kasumi. They discussed ways from rescue to study, though he doubted that she would need the latter. Eventually they agreed that the next day they would walk past the Yamanaka compound and knock on the door. Best case scenario they could go in and see Kasumi and confirm for themselves that she was okay and it was just a case that she was a little sick and everything is fine and the world order has been restored and they could go back to being friends who were more like family and Kasumi would never be taken away from them again and-

The mind of Daiki Inuzuka really needs to stop rambling. It didn't help with his hyper-active tendencies either.

Worst case scenario the trio, Katsu included, would be turned away. The Yamanakas wouldn't risk hurting them because of the very likely inter-clan consequences so the worst they would have to endure would be some mean words and loud voices.

It was a risk they were more than willing to take, if only for the slight chance that the best-case scenario happened and their worries for Kasumi could be put at ease.

* * *

Nami went to make dinner long after the sun had left the sky. When she left the boys alone they were happily sitting side by side on the couch with Katsu curled up between them. This talk was just what the boys needed to get everything off of their chests. There had been yelling and crying at the beginning but once they realised that they both felt the same way and were both worried about Kasumi it all worked out. It may have helped that Nami slipped in a comment or two about how Kasumi would have wanted them to behave and get along while she was away and she had been forced to brave a smile and assure the pair that Kasumi would be just fine next they saw her. She felt a little bad for potentially lying but it is the same lie that she has been forcing herself to believe for the past few days now.

Who was she kidding? She has held this lie from the day she met the poor Yamanaka girl. Nami knew things were bad but she had to lie to herself that they weren't as bad as they likely were. All to stop herself from marching into the other clan's compound on a mother bear rampage.

Nami knew that she couldn't go see Kasumi for political reasons and the boys could only just get away with it themselves, mainly based on their age and relationship to Kasumi. The other issue was whether their 'snooping' or concern would be interpreted the wrong way and have repercussions on Kasumi.

She couldn't think like that though.

Everything was going to be fine.

She needed the boys to believe this.

* * *

 **I know it has been ages but I've been swamped with work. Sorry for the delay and the shortness of the chapter but I felt I had to get this part out of the way before moving on to the next bit.**

 **I've put priority on this story and I will try to have the next chapter up soon. only a couple more necessary chapters before getting onto what I feel is a good bit. a bit more uplifting and exciting anyway ;)**

 **I would love to here people's opinion on things, I know for a fact this chapter isn't the best, but I am also considering doing a poll for any spin-offs or shorts that people would like to know about. I have a lot of ideas in my head but they may not always have a particular spot in the timeline.**

 **I'm also going to try a bit of a different writing style to see if that improves how it reads and if you think it makes things worse then please let me know :)**

 **I think that's everything I needed to say. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!**


	17. 16 - Putting Plans Into Action

They were insane.

Plain and simple.

They were going to die. They were going to die. They were going to die.

Nami was too scared to do this and she was super scary. Kasumi was too weak to break free and she was the strongest of them.

What chance did they have?

They were dead. They were dead. They were dead.

The Village Hidden in the Leaves was going about its business, with people strolling the streets and talking as they browsed and did business with the numerous shops and stalls, as if they weren't aware of the internal crisis currently being suffered by the two boys.

"Hurry up Tatsuya! The sooner we get there the sooner we can see Kasumi!"

How the hell can Daiki be so confident?!

Tatsuya snapped his head up from where it had been staring at the ground as his feet reluctantly covered the distance to the Yamanaka compound in order to complete their mission. Daiki had Katsu in tow and instead of procrastinating, as Tatsuya's slow pace was doing, he wanted to treat this terrifying encounter like a band-aid, get it over and done with quickly. Both boys were eager to see their friend but both concerned about what the repercussions could be for them and Kasumi.

Brown eyes and met green and the stronger emerald colour won the staring contest with Tatsuya admitting defeat with a drawn out and exasperated sigh. The two boys were certainly different, from appearance to attitude, but in a sense, this meant that they complicated each other. After all, they did have a common goal and it meant that they had more ways and opportunities to accomplish it.

"Hurry up!"

"Hey! Daiki! There's no need to run… Wait up!"

Tatsuya was almost beginning to regret his ninja training as it felt like he had gotten to the entrance of the Yamanaka compound far too quickly. He should be proud of his improvement but right now it was not helping him at all. The compound wouldn't be as scary if it wasn't for the information that Tatsuya, and Daiki, had about some of the monsters that lived inside. The exterior was much like other clan compounds with its singular entrance into a courtyard that led off to different residences and buildings. The difference with the Yamanaka compound entrance, to no one's surprise, was the floral decorations and abundance of various plants and vegetation. While most of the clan compounds had a similar entrance they all tried to add a bit of clan individuality to the gate and its immediate surroundings in order to distinguish the clans and show a bit of pride at the same time. The Yamanaka's floral knowledge was invaluable in terms of poisons, antidotes and medicine, something that anyone would take great pride in and show respect for, so of course they would try to remind people of this specialty whenever possible.

Basically, it was both beautiful and scary. Which is exactly how Tatsuya's father had described women and if that was the case then Tatsuya would be more then happy to never make one angry or be foolish enough to marry one. Who would want to constantly live with a potential time-bomb? Bachelor forever. At least that could be said to be one good thing about being a civilian born, he didn't have clan obligations to have children although his mother may kill him if he ever voiced these thoughts about not wanting a scary wife, therefore denying her grandchildren. The more Tatsuya thinks about it the more it seems that he will never escape the wrath of females no matter what he does.

Procrastination again.

Tatsuya looked over at his dark-haired companion, expecting another comment along the lines of 'hurry up' but instead was met with an uncertain Inuzuka. Daiki wasn't moving and had found the ground quite interesting. Maybe the two of them could walk away. Come up with some excuse. Kasumi was their friend but they were also just kids and from what they had heard, and imagined, they could be facing a lot of trouble!

They were going to die. They were dead. Just back away slowly.

Still with his eyes on Daiki, Tatsuya took a tentative step backwards. This movement meant that the eyes of the two boys met once again and they were both as scared and devoid of strength as each other. Tatsuya was truly surprised when Daiki's sad, green eyes locked onto the ground again and his own foot took a slow pace in the direction that they had just come from.

What were they doing?! Could they, no, should they leave Kasumi like this? They had just spent the past few days praying for answers and now they were running away. This must be why Kasumi doesn't trust anybody. They all just let her down.

Could they really allow them to create a moment that they would be ashamed of for the rest of their lives?

Tatsuya couldn't continue on with this particularly sad and dark train of thought as Katsu had started backing at the gate.

Daiki and Tatsuya stood as still as statues, not sure whether to act with honour or run with their tails between their legs while they still had the chance, as the gates slowly opened to reveal, unknown to them, the two most hated Yamankas in their books.

No going back now.

This is probably for the best.

This is all for Kasumi.

* * *

What the hell were they doing here?!

This was the only thought running a million miles an hour through the mind of Daiki Inuzuka as he stood paralysed in front if the Yamanaka compound.

The night before had ended on a high with both of the boys determined to march into the compound and demand their friend back. Daiki had carried that enthusiasm over to this morning when he couldn't wait to reach this place and even had to get Tatsuya to pick up the pace in his rush to get here. But actions speak louder than words and things are easier said then done. This could never be more true then right in this moment as Daiki froze upon coming to the formerly eagerly awaited destination. Daiki would usually be insulted at being called a coward but even he knew he was being one in this moment. Worse than that he was considering leaving a member of his pack behind, someone who had trusted and helped him and he was going to repay her by abandoning her in her time of need all because he is too scared to take a couple of steps forward and get over this sudden feeling of fear.

Good thing Katsu has more sense than his human companion as the little pup, who is constantly ridiculed for being a weak runt, went straight to the gate as soon as he noticed Daiki's intentions to retreat and begun pawing at the gate with a few accompanying small but strong barks. Thankfully, and unfortunately, the gate opened soon after and the now open doorway revealed two female Yamanakas, a mother and daughter. The woman had brown hair and brown eyes just like Kasumi and the girl had blonde hair and blue eyes but shared the same face as the Inuzuka's dear female friend.

Them!

It was two of the three Yamanakas that Daiki had come to see with his human comrade and canine partner to talk to about Kasumi.

This wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Now that Daiki were face-to-face with the people who had treated his friend horribly almost as long as she could remember he was no longer scared but instead flooded with pure rage. All he wanted to do was scowl, growl and attack. His body was shaking. Anger. And shame.

He was not leaving.

From the sudden firm grip on his arm, neither was Tatsuya. Turning his head to look at his friend Daiki was able to see the renewed determination but also the silent plea to not do anything stupid. Don't charge in. Fighting wasn't the way to save Kasumi this time. If they did that then there was no way that they would ever be allowed in, Kasumi would likely be punished too.

Daiki understood all of this int hat moment but obviously Tatsuya didn't realise that he did as the red head almost had a heart attack and produced a squeaking noise as the Inuzuka marched towards the open gate. The green eyes were intense and taking in the two females who had yet to say a word or address the situation at all. Instead of doing anything stupid Daiki simply crouched down to pick Katsu up and as he returned to a standing position gave a slight bow; which tore at ever fibre of his being and would likely be his anger fuel for training for the next decade. The mark of respect felt almost as morally wrong as his then polite tone and speech.

"Morning Lady Yamanaka,"

A signature Inuzuka grin would hopefully cover his scowl that had formed at directly communicating with the monster. If the woman was surprised then she was doing a great job of covering it up, or likely she just didn't care but would indulge the two boys for reputation purposes.

"What can I do for you little Inuzuka?"

If it wasn't for Kasumi's stories then Daiki would have likely believed that this Yamanaka was indeed as nice as she sounded. He wondered how pleasantly she would be acting when she heard why he was here and the subject of Kasumi was brought up.

"Is your daughter here? Can we see her?"

He couldn't bring himself to say her name. Saying it now would just get him emotional. Probably the same reason why Tatsuya still hadn't said anything and was now taking shelter behind Daiki's slightly broader shoulders.

There wasn't much of a reaction to this. With his attention fixed on the brown-haired woman he was shocked when the blonde brat opened her mouth and addressed him instead but not nearly as surprised as when he registered what she was saying.

"I don't know who you are. We're going shopping now anyway,"

Daiki was forced to turn his attention to the blonde girl now but he did so very begrudgingly. Ino had the same face as Kasumi and it made her absence even more apparent. If it wasn't for the different coloured hair and eyes, and the fact that she was so snotty and obnoxious, Daiki may have even hugged her just to pretend that Kasumi was back.

Thinking back on his question he should have specified. Of course Ino would assume they meant her even if they didn't know each other, why on earth would she believe that someone cared about her sister. Even considering this it was hard to believe that they simply wouldn't acknowledge Kasumi's existence, it must have been obvious they didn't mean Ino.

Surely.

The shock was still a thick cloud over Daiki's mind but obviously not as dense as with Tatsuya as he was the one to break this trance and speak up. Just one word. Mumbled from behind the Inuzuka's back.

"Kasumi,"

The reaction that Daiki had been expecting at the beginning was finally seen on the face of Airi Yamanaka and even more prominently on Ino. Their faces were twisted in cruel expressions of disgust at the young Yamanaka's name. Airi looked like she wanted to slap the two boys and with this registered Daiki tightened his grip on Katsu and moved to shelter Tatsuya even more. Ino actually had the audacity to stomp the few steps needed to close he gap between them and proceed to send spit into his face as she aggressively yelled at the trio.

"Why would you want to see her?! Are you that stupid that you are actually friends with her?! How pathetic! Move out of our way! We have better things to do than deal with you and _her_!"

Ino then turned her nose up at the boys and stomped past them. Airi smirked, held eye contact with the boys as she closed the gate and followed her favourite daughter without a word. Nothing verbal to confirm the situation with Kasumi, her condition or if they could ever come back to see her, not that the answer wasn't already obvious. She didn't even reprimand Ino for her extremely rude behaviour, just smiled at the blonde as they held hands down the street. Daiki would have been skinned alive by his mother if he had spoken like that to _anyone_ and Inuzukas aren't renown for their manners either.

Daiki could do nothing though.

He was powerless.

No meant no.

There was nothing he could do.

As the two true Yamanaka monsters walked happily down the street Daiki stayed put, not trusting himself to be able to move. All he could do was hold Katsu even tighter to his chest and let his black fur soak up his tears, just as he was letting his Shiota friend use his shirt for the same thing.

They came here knowing that there was a good chance of rejection. They just didn't think it would be this bad. Or that they would actually glimpse what it was that Kasumi was going through.

There was nothing they could do.

* * *

If it wasn't for the fact that it was the head of the clan, Runa would have stepped in by now. Saying that if it wasn't that family then Kasumi never would have been the centre of this hateful superstition. It took all of her self-control as it was around that dreadful Airi and bratty Ino on a normal day but this was too far!

Elder Runa had just finished her shift at the Yamanaka Flower Shop and was returning to the clan compound when she witnessed the disgraceful and disgusting scene concerning the poor boys and the Yamanaka mother and daughter monsters. Kasumi's superstition had nothing on the actions of those two!

The elder was about to snap when the conclusion of the situation left the boys in tears. They were just children! Just like Kasumi! They shouldn't have to endure this at such a tender age! They only got their childhood once and would have the rest of their lives to deal with the tedious hardships of life.

This really was just too much!

If it wasn't Airi then she could help. She could let the boys see Kasumi. She could use her authority as an elder. Unfortunately, Airi was the wife of the clan head and doing something like this would cause repercussions throughout the whole clan and harm Kasumi even further.

Damn them all!

Anger aside, Runa had to do something. A few minutes had passed now and the two young boys had yet to move from their positions or run out of tears. Runa herself had been stationary as she observed the consequences of Airi and Ino's actions.

The boys didn't even look up as she approached them. It wasn't much of a surprise considering how they must be feeling right now. Even so, she thought that they might have wanted to see a familiar face at this point.

"Daiki, Tatsuya,"  
Said boys looked up at the mention of their names but couldn't bring themselves to smile, even for the kind-hearted elder they had come to know through Kasumi; one of the few people that the young girl trusted and they knew this. Even then there was nothing but sadness on their faces. They couldn't even bring themselves to hope that the elder would be able to pull off some sort of magic and make everything better. They were much too aware. They no longer had the drive of youth that made them believe that anything was possible. They were now aware of limitations, boundaries and rules and the chances they had to break through them.

Right now, they had no chance and this was written clearly on their faces.

Runa was doing everything within her realm of self-control to supress her rage towards Airi, Inoichi and Ino and avoid directing it onto the innocent boys or have them misinterpret something. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt these boys any further. They had suffered more than enough for their age and more then what some people would be lucky enough to experience in a life-time.

Moment of truth. Could she keep her voice steady? Would they see through her lie and attempt to reinstall hope?

"Kasumi will be fine boys. I'm going in to check on her now. Everything will be alright. I'm sure she will be back at the Academy again in no time and then you three can come and visit me again in the shop, of course Katsu is more then welcome to come as well,"

Daiki and Tatsuya shared an uncertain glance between them as if deciding amongst themselves whether or not to believe this. Runa knew it had to be hard on them but their worry for their friend's wellbeing was too much for Runa's smile and cheery voice. Or maybe the boys could just see through her act? In that case they were already on their way to becoming fine shinobi but right now this wouldn't seem like much of a constellation.

"You know you boys are always welcome at the flower shop when I'm there. There's only so much Airi can do but it will all work out you'll see. Once you all grow up into fine Konoha shinobi then you will be in charge of your own fates a little more. Just promise me that until then you will enjoy being children and stop worrying about all of your problems? When you're young you have time to wait for things to get better. Nobody can say you haven't tried. I'm proud of both of you and I'll tell Kasumi you tried to drop by. I can guarantee that it will make her day. Now run along and enjoy your day off!"

This last part was delivered in a cheery voice along with a hearty laugh and accompanied by a large, warm hug that engulfed both Daiki and Tatsuya, as well as almost squishing Katsu in the middle. The boys may not have returned the embrace or Runa's smile but at least they were no longer crying and staring at the ground in defeat. The Yamanaka elder would just have to settle for this small victory for now.

As she sent the two boys off with a wave she made a promise to herself that she would not allow her clan to further ruin the lives of the three small children she had come to cherish. They had earnt her respect and shown her respect. They would all grow into fine warriors; strong, wise and compassionate. Runa would prefer her legacy live on in their success instead of with a clan that can't look after or accept their own.

* * *

Things had been really boring the last couple of days.

Really boring!

Kasumi was now having to re-read old books. Not that she minded too much. It was always good to refresh her mind and she could pick up on things that she had missed previously or apply a better understanding from the extra knowledge she had gained from the other books; but that wasn't the point! The brown-haired Yamanaka had basically been trapped in her room. Her meals were left by her door and if she took a step out then it was only for the bathroom and even then, her mother would still complain, that scowl that was reserved for Kasumi's presence planted firmly upon her would be beautiful features.

Kasumi had the opportunity to learn and would be ahead of most of her peers when she returned to the Academy even with this extended period of absence but her biggest struggle upon returning would be her physical abilities. While her mind could be exercised within the confines of a small room her body needed space to grow stronger. The most she could do was stretches and some basic routines involving push-ups, sit-ups and the like but when it came to running, punching, kicking, flipping, dodging, throwing and everything else that was incorporated into combat she could do nothing. It just seemed that all of Nami's efforts to train her would be for nothing. The Yamanaka would return to the Academy worse then before. Kasumi tries not to be a prideful person but this would definitely sting, not to mention that she would have to deal with ridicule from her classmates as well.

Guess she just had to get stronger.

There wasn't much time to dwell on this though, surprisingly. Only seconds beforehand Kasumi had all of the time in the world to think about this but it had to be put on hold when there was a knock at her door. Had she said something out loud? Did her 'mother' hear her? Or was the grumpy woman angry at something and decided she was going to yell at Kasumi?

Saying that…

If it was Airi then she wouldn't have bothered to knock. There would have been yelling up the hallway and it would have gotten louder until the door was flung open with the dreadful Yamanaka storming in. When all of this was considered then what could be going on? No one would be allowed to visit and if anyone tried then Airi would have enacted the previous scenario.

Who was it?

"Kasumi?"

That voice!

"Elder Runa,"

Even though she was brimming with excitement and happiness at her visit she knew she couldn't scream it out at the top of her lungs like she wanted to. If Airi heard then there would be trouble. It seemed that Kasumi wasn't allowed to be happy and would be punished otherwise. Just another lame excuse for Airi's behaviour and weakness to external pressures. Hopefully she would suffer all she was due some day and Kasumi would be fortunate enough to witness it. Kasumi liked to think she was a nice and caring person and as she never wished unnecessary harm upon any living creature, Airi had shown that she possessed no heart and therefore didn't fall under this category.

This dark thought didn't stop Kasumi from springing up from her seated position upon her bed to open the door to the only kind Yamanaka there was.

"Elder Runa,"

This second utterance of her name was muffled within the older Yamanaka's clothing as Kasumi couldn't contain her joy and needed to express it in the form of a hug before she exploded. Runa didn't seem to mind as she returned the strong embrace in kind.

"I've got a lot to talk to you about Kasumi. You'll never believe who I just ran into at the gate,"

* * *

For the rest of the day Kasumi had Elder Runa for company and they talked about everything. They talked about Daiki and Tatsuya and the flower shop. They avoided the topic of Kasumi's bruise and isolation, instead they focused on the future. While Elder Runa was able to give Kasumi more knowledge on medicinal and poisonous flora the most important thing that the younger Yamanaka gained from the day was a question.

What's your plan?

When Elder Runa had asked this during their conversation Kasumi assumed she would be able to answer straight away. It was obvious that Kasumi wanted to get out but when she started to think about it that was all she had so far. She wanted out. She wanted freedom. But she had no direction to get there. She knew she would have to be stringer but there is no point in having strength if you don't know how to use it or don't use it for something.

What was she going to do?

Once Airi and Ino returned from their shopping trip and shift at the flower shop it was time for the conversation to end. Elder Runa left Kasumi's room with a devilish smile on her face and met the other female Yamanakas by the door. Airi was clearly not pleased that the elder had visited her youngest daughter but a few muffled words from the eldest Yamanaka had her biting her lip and ignoring Kasumi. Whatever Runa had said it worked in Kasumi's favour as there were no repercussions of the visit, then or for the rest of the evening.

Once the elder had left Kasumi wasn't going to push her luck or take any chances and instead remained in her room and continued to follow the routine that had been established during Kasumi's imprisonment so far. At least this isolation gave her time to think and if it wasn't for Ino's incessant talking outside the door about how great she was, how great her day had been, the amazing things she got to do and how much Kasumi sucked in turn then the younger twin would have been able to concentrate more on her problem.

And it was an important problem too.

She needed a plan. How was she going to get her freedom?

Once the Yamanaka household had settled down for the night and there was no more Ino to deal with Kasumi was able to focus all of her energy on this problem. After all, it wasn't like she was doing anything tomorrow so she could easily sleep in without anyone caring.

When the sun rose the next day it brought with it hope.

If she could get her plan to work then most of her issues would be solved. Once she became a genin she could petition the Hokage to leave her clan. This would be difficult but she would cross that complicated and political bridge when she got there. Before this she couldn't appear to 'live' somewhere else. This would 'look bad' and at the moment that seemed to be the only thing that _Airi_ cared about. All Kasumi had to do to fulfil this was sleep here and do well at the Academy. If her performance slipped then there may be consequences but not because her parents cared about her future but because it would make the clan seem bad and make them appear as worse parents. Both of these were true anyway but if they wanted to try and hide it then it didn't matter, the truth would be revealed in the long run once Kasumi was free. When it came to being within the confines of the Yamanaka compound Kasumi will simply resign herself to staying quiet and unseen. Her life will be like what it has been for that last few days. She will remain in her room, likely have her meals brought to her door and only exit to use the bathroom or leave the house. This would reduce contact with the 'family' and any problems that would arise from that. But Kasumi didn't intend to rot away in this room. No. she was going to spend as much time as possible away from this place. Whether it was at the Inuzuka's, Shiota's, the flower shop or training it didn't matter because she wouldn't be here and she would be getting stronger.

At the moment that's what mattered.

People tend not to bully those that are stronger then themselves. People also tend not to harm the loved ones of these strong people either.

 **100 reviews, over 250 favourites and over 350 followers. Not to mention over 60,000 words now.**

 **I love you all so here's a little something fun. I will write a second half to this at the next lot of milestones**

 **This is also a bit of an apology for the last update to take so long. Work was terrible and sapped all of my time and motivation. If it wasn't for the stream of reviews asking for more I probably would have left it.**

 **Thanks everyone!**

 _Fast Forward: The trio of Kasumi, Daiki and Tatsuya are all genin and find themselves at the Inuzuka compound for some extra training with the one and only Nami!_

This was going to be nice.

It had been a while since Kasumi had trained with the boys at the compound like they had in their Academy days, but they all had the day off today. It was nostalgic but some important training as well. Kasumi knew that she couldn't afford her feelings or emotions allow her to slack, she would never hear the end of it from her sensei if she did. Good intentions or not.

"Alright kids, listen up!"

She already had their attention but Nami seemed to always enjoy being loud. At least it was a way that Kasumi could always tell that the Inuzuka woman was in a good mood. If she was silent then you had to run!

"Follow me!"  
All three of the genin were surprised at this command. They had always trained in this clearing. Not only that but Kasumi was becoming suspicious of Nami's behaviour. Yes, the woman was usually cheerful and happy but this was a little bit too energetic to be called normal. Reminded Kasumi too much of someone else; an eternal cringe would never be enough for that thought.

Either way kids began following Nami after they recovered from the unexpected order and found themselves in a garden.

WTF?

Nami did say that they were training right? Kasumi had no idea what was going on and she was usually known for being the bright one of the group; something she was not ashamed to admit that she was proud of. Even with this she had no idea what was going on anymore. There was no way that they could be doing training in this surprisingly well pampered garden, I mean by Inuzuka standards this place was amazing! If they damaged something then they would have hell to pay and likely from Tsume personally.

"Mum! You're insane!"

It seemed that Daiki had caught onto the same logic as Kasumi but the rest of what he had to say was caught in his throat at his mother's next command.

"That you take your clothes off now kids,"  
WHAT!

Nami Inuzuka seemed suspiciously proud of herself for producing the current reactions of Kasumi, Daiki and Tatsuya to this bit of information. The woman wore a victorious smirk on her face as her fisted hands were placed on her hips; her look completely contradicting the serenity of their surroundings. The reaction of the trio was mostly the same. All had their mouths open and varying degrees of an embarrassed blush at the prospect of removing their clothes in front of the others.

"You'll get wet otherwise,"

Wait a minute.

Unlike her male friends, Kasumi thought over this new bit of information. One of the reasons why this garden was so beautiful was because of the clear pond it held as its centrepiece. Kasumi had heard of a few basic water techniques, and only one of them would hold the possibility of them getting drenched to the point of making the removal of their clothes a smart thing to do at the beginning.

Nice.

With this realisation Kasumi started to happily remove her clothes, despite the protests from Daiki and Tatsuya as they looked in the other direction and covered their eyes. Kasumi's underwear wasn't embarrassing or anything. Both pieces were black. A sports bar and briefs that were just short shorts if anything else. Everything was covered. There was nothing to worry about. It wasn't as if there was much to see anyway. She was barely twelve.

"What are you doing?!"

Although the boys didn't seem to think it was no big deal. Their backs were fully facing her and Nami seemed to think that this situation was very amusing from her chuckles.

"Come on boys. Do you really want to go swimming in fully dressed?"

"What?"  
Both boys responded by turning their heads to the side to look at Nami but conveniently not enough to look at Kasumi standing behind them.

"We are going swimming. Very likely anyway,"

From instinct Daiki and Tatsuya turned to look at her as she spoke, only to quickly turn back a fully one-eighty degrees.

Nami might have been onto something. This was very amusing indeed. If only a little cruel as well.

After a bit more prompting from Nami the boys started to hesitantly undress as well and while they did this Kasumi turned her back on them to give them some 'privacy' and to also admire their training area for the day.

Unlike the training areas, the ground here was completely covered in lush green grass. The area in all was just peaceful and perfect. The grass, the clear water, even the slender trees and colourful flowers. There was a wooden bench facing the pond and the forest on the far side of the clearing. The two remaining sides were home to the trees that offered little shade to the edge of the water. The perimeter of the grass was marked by the flowers whose colours and types held no pattern or reason yet the chaos in itself was beautiful. It added a nice Inuzuka touch to the place. Deliberate chaos. It worked anyway.

When Daiki and Tatsuya joined Kasumi in front of Nami in their boxers it was finally time for the training to start.

"You all know how to walk up trees,"

Not much of a question but still earnt nods.

"Well you're moving onto water now,"  
Realisation dawned on the boys' faces as Nami triumphantly, and dramatically (honestly stop, I get enough of this from my sensei), pointed to the opposite side of the pond.

"That's your goal! No run-ups. No jumping. Walk. Let's see how many times you guys fall in,"

With that Nami placed herself on the wooden bench and waited for the first brave soul to tackle the challenge.

Kasumi had the strong and confident feeling that things weren't going to go in their favour for this training.

It was going to be a very long day. Very.

At least it wasn't a cold day.


End file.
